Following a corruption scandal in 2008 the municipal council was dissolved and replaced by a national special delegation.

[1] On 10 July 2008 Saly became independent from Malicounda and received city status (commune).

Malicounda is located 60 km southeast of Dakar and 35 km south of Thiès, in the centre of M'bour Department, making up the northern and eastern suburbs of the cities M'bour and Saly on the Petite Côte.

[2] The commune encompasses an area of 124 km2 containing the following villages:[3] As of 2002 Malicounda records having four different ethnic groups:[4] Malicounda is connected by the national road N1, a part of the Trans-Sahelian Highway (TAH 5), with Dakar to the northwest, M'bour to the southeast and with a number of major cities along the whole breadth of Senegal up to Kidira near the Malian border and beyond that all the way to N'Djamena, the capital of Chad and terminal of the TAH 5.

In Malicounda there is also an on-ramp of the motorway A2, connecting it with Touba and Blaise Diagne International Airport.