The Faramareen prince has been marketed to his adoring fans as a generous person who would never hesitate to help those in need.

When dealing with Gambians, Wally Seck exhibits traits of a profiteering merchant. And in the process, shortchanging the taxman and small businesses. Concerts headlined by foreign musicians are usually organised by local promoters or event organisers and Wally is no exception.

When he was privy to financial records detailing the amounts Gambian promoters make from the festive season events, he decided to cut them off and organises it himself through collaborative proxies. This is beyond greed. Gambian promoters are not running charities, it is a business. They make money and the artists too make money – win, win for both parties. Wally now decided to take what is his and take what is for the promoter since he doubled as the promoter of his own event in The Gambia. He has never organised a gala dinner in his own country, not to talk of a three-day event.

Let’s crunch some numbers to make sense of this. If for example he made D8 million from his December events in The Gambia and paid 15% tax to GRA. The rest is going to be banked and spent in his native Senegal. 

However, if it was organised by a Gambian promoter and he/she makes D3 million profit. And after paying income tax it is almost certain the rest will be spent in the country patronising small, local businesses. This will, in turn, help them (small businesses) fulfill their tax obligations.

Music promoters, event organisers, etc. should put a stop to this by lobbying lawmakers to come up with protective measures. This will ensure the template will not be copied by other foreign artists. We are generally nice and welcoming people, but we are not ‘con’ as most Senegalese convinced themselves we are.