The governor of Thiès is adamant: everything is ready in the Railway City to host the grand parade celebrating Senegal's independence on Saturday, April 4th. "We dare say we are ready. If the parade were to take place tomorrow [date of the interview unspecified], we would manage," declared Saër Ndao in an interview published this Thursday in L'Observateur. "We could accommodate everyone. We might continue to make a few adjustments here and there just to complete and make the system more functional, but in terms of overall preparation, we are ready."

The head of the regional executive indicates that organizing the April 4th celebrations in Thiès presents three challenges: the first on his list is related to infrastructure. "To have a good parade, you need a parade route," the governor reminds us. "Fortunately, the parade site for Thiès was prepared a long time ago."

Saër Ndao continued: “The second challenge is: how to mobilize all stakeholders around the essentials? This is a time when everyone wants to be involved. Therefore, we must focus on raising awareness so that people understand what is needed. The other challenge is: how to relaunch development through decentralization? How to initiate a different kind of development at the regional level in Thiès so that development is territorialized and localized, leading to sustainable development?”

The governor of Thiès assures that his city is meeting these challenges, "although there are still some minor problems."