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NATIONAL | Senegal has given rapper Akon a formal notice: the government will take back 90% of the 136 acres land given him in Mbodiène for his futuristic 'Akon City' project unless work is started.
Back here, the government is determined to displace more than 100,000 folks in Buleebi, Sango, Mbazi, Kyazi, Lulagwe, Muvo, Kiziru, and Kamwanyi villages of Mukono District to dole out one square mile (640 acres) of land to Akon for a much-touted similar project.
Across Dakar and Kampala, Akon promised a high-tech metropolis featuring condominiums, amusement parks, and a seaside resort in gravity-defying skyscrapers rising above the rural landscape - all powered by solar energy and the singer's cryptocurrency, Akoin.
It all sounded too good to be true then as it is now. And the reality on the ground in Senegal confirms as much.
Get it up or go away
In Mbodiène, a tranquil enclave nestled 100 kilometres south of Senegalese capital Dakar, a foundation stone stands abandoned in overgrown grass. Like Lonely is Akon's breakthrough song, the foundation stone is just as lonely.
The wild grassland around it is so much that even cattle here cannot graze it all. Ideally, cranes, jackhammers or builders, should have turned this place into a hustle and bustle construction site.
Phase one of the $6 billion project was originally due to be completed by 2023. The plans included homes, a hospital, a school, a police station, and a solar power plant".
The entire city was to be finished by 2030.
But the overgrown grass and Lonely foundation stone is for now the Akon City, the Senegal one - a grandiose vision of a futuristic utopia spearheaded by Akon (real name is Alioune Badara Thiam).
When Akon first unveiled his ambitious plan in 2018, it was met with a chorus of global enthusiasm.
Described as a city worthy of Wakanda—Marvel’s fictional African kingdom depicted in "Black Panther"—Akon City promised to be a beacon of modernity with its solar-powered infrastructure, luxury hotels, high-tech universities, and a local cryptocurrency, Akoin.
The initial budget was a hefty $6 billion (Shs22 trillion), and the first phase was scheduled for completion by late 2023. Yet, as of mid-2024, the only tangible result of this grand vision is the skeletal frame of the Welcome Centre and that Lonely foundation stone.
Local authorities are growing impatient. On June 28, the Company of Development and Promotion of Senegal’s Coasts and Tourist Zones (Sapco) issued a formal notice to Akon, threatening to revoke most of the land allocated for the project if construction does not resume by the end of July.
Sapco-Senegal, the state-owned entity charged with developing the country's coastal and tourism areas, has given Akon formal notice that the government will take back 90% of the land unless work is started on the project, according to Serigne Mboup, Sapco's director general.
Akon was given the notice "after missing several payments to Sapco", said Bloomberg, which added that a spokesperson for Akon had declined to comment on the matter.
Despite the grim prognosis, Marcel Diome, the chief of Mbodiène, remains hopeful.
“For the moment, we’re holding onto the hope that the project will get off the ground,” Diome said.
“Akon has done everything he promised. It’s just a bit slow.”
While the project has funded a basketball court, a youth centre, and a football stadium, these modest achievements stand in stark contrast to the ambitious promises of a cutting-edge metropolis.
Critics argue that the project’s financing has been elusive. Initial assurances from KE International about securing $4 billion in investments have failed to materialise, leaving many to question the viability of Akon’s dream.
Akon’s cryptocurrency, Akoin, which was supposed to bolster economic stability, has also plummeted in value, adding to the project's woes.
The Ugandan Ambition
Akon tinkered with a tale of two cities. In April 2021, he and his wife Rozina Negusei visited Uganda and met with high-profile officials, including President Museveni and his family at Rwakitura.
He asked for land to build Akon City, which the President promised to look ino and one-square-mile piece of land in Mukono was earmarked.
However, the enthusiasm surrounding the project has been marred by controversy. The Uganda Land Commission (ULC) recently handed over the land title to the Lands ministry, but this has ignited protests among the local communities of Bulebi, Sango, Mbazi, and Lulagwe.
Margret Nabbanja, a resident of Bulebi, voices a common sentiment of unease.
“Although I haven’t received official notice to vacate, I fear that the land—which holds deep ancestral significance—will be taken from us,” she said.
Salim Kabanda, another local, questions the legality and fairness of the allocation process, given that the land had been settled long before the current government came into power.
Lands minister Judith Nabakooba insists that the land title is valid and registered under the ULC.
The ministry is now tasked with addressing the concerns of the residents and ensuring fair treatment for all stakeholders.
Construction in Akon City Uganda is scheduled to complete in 2036, and has the backing of the government.
A Tale of Two Cities
The saga of Akon City in both Senegal and Uganda highlights a broader narrative of ambitious projects meeting with real-world obstacles.
While the vision of futuristic cities promises economic growth and technological advancement, the practicalities of financing, construction, and local opposition pose significant challenges.
For both Akon and the communities affected, the promise of progress remains a double-edged sword. In Senegal, the dream of a green, high-tech utopia has yet to materialize, while in Uganda, the potential displacement of local residents underscores the complexities of large-scale development.
Akon envisioned the development not only as a source of opportunity and employment for Senegal's youth but also as a "sanctuary for African-Americans seeking to reconnect with their African roots", said The Guardian.
"I wanted to build a city or a project like this to give them the motivation to know that there is a home back home," Akon said at a 2020 press conference.
But the global star, who has sold some 35 million albums worldwide, has encountered numerous setbacks and delays. In 2021, Akon's former business partner Devyne Stephens sued him for $4 million, claiming unpaid debts related to the project.
Stephens' lawyers later accused Akon City and Akoin of displaying "many of the trademark characteristics… of fraudulent business ventures such as Ponzi schemes and pyramid schemes".
Akon settled part of the lawsuit out of court.
And in February 2023, Senegalese lawmaker Bara Gaye told parliament that "Akon City is a scandal," said Bloomberg.
Even staunch supporters of the project, like Mbodiène village chief Michel Diome, now doubt it will ever be built.
"Akon City would bring employment for our youth," Diome told the news site. "We would finally have a hospital and even a university."
"We're still waiting," he said.
Meanwhile, some media outlets in Senegal have not hesitated to suggest a swindle, although nothing has been proven.
In 2022, the online news site Dakaractu.com questioned whether Akon City might not be a Ponzi scheme.
"There was no personal enrichment or scam," said a former Dakar-based Akon collaborator, who resigned in early 2023 along with a dozen other consultants - according to French publication, Le Monde.
"Akon spent several million of his own money on this project. But he hasn't managed to secure the investment pledges, even though he's not in a position to finance everything on his own," he was quoted as saying.
The financing of "Akon City" has always been nebulous, to say the least. In 2020, the American company KE International told Le Monde Afrique that it had "already raised $4 billion from investors led by Julius Mwale," a Kenyan businessman who is involved in a similar project in Kenya, the Mwale Medical & Technology City, which is also struggling to get off the ground.
According to several of the project's former collaborators in Dakar, the promises of funding for "Akon City" have never materialised.
But there are still 100,000 villagers in Mukono living in fear of being thrown out of their swathes of ancestral land in the name of what looked more like utopic dream when it was touted back in 2021 than it does today.
Investment minister Evelyn Anite told the Nile Post the Akon investment issues were not under her docket and that she did not even know who was overseeing the project.
"The Uganda Investment Authority is not directly involved in the project," added David Rupiny, communication officer at the investment authority.