Following the signing of the Concessionary Agreement between The Gambia Ports Authority (GPA) and Albayrak Group in July 2024, a number of meetings and engagements were held among the various stakeholders. Despite the challenges during these engagements, the community of Sanyang unanimously agreed to host the Sanyang Deep Sea Port project.
This followed an earlier courtesy call by like-minded stakeholders of Sanyang on Honourable Minister of Transport, Works & Infrastructure, Mr Ebrima Sillah, in November 2023. The Community subsequently identified a specific vast tract of land in its Hawba area along the Atlantic coast, towards the neighbouring Tujereng, for the construction of the port on-land facilities.
The community’s position has therefore been clear: there is no resistance to the Deep Sea Port project. However, through experiential learning, Sanyang has suffered double whammy effects at the hands of both the government and private investors. These experiences and bad-faith outcomes informed the establishment of a Deep Sea Task Force (TF) to lead the participatory processes and ensure a win-win outcome for the investor (Albayrak Group), The GPA, and the community.
As a priority, the task force led the preparation of a Letter of Agreement (LOA) to guide the relationships among the three primary stakeholders: The GPA, Albayrak Group, and the community of Sanyang. The finalization and signature of the LOA would have been led by the community’s lawyer, Snr. counsel Lamin J Darbo of Dabanani Chambers. The LOA was also intended to provide a basis for negotiations on the Community’s perspectives and vision of a port that will not marginalise or potentially ruin the community’s heritage and livelihood assets.
Unfortunately, despite repeated requests at meetings with both the Ministry and the GPA, and for The GPA in particular to start negotiations on the community’s perspectives and vision, to date, the LOA has not been admitted by the GPA.
All along, the community of Sanyang has remained civil and committed to engagement. However, when the Managing Director of the GPA, Mr Jobarteh, made a surprise ‘press statement’ on the lease of the Deep Sea Port land in Sanyang, some members of the TF took further action and presented a counterargument before The Ministry of Lands Executive Forum, chaired by Honourable Minister Hamat Bah. The counterargument was well received, but unfortunately, no feedback has since been received from the Ministry of Lands.
Now, in August 2026, three years since our initial interaction with Minister Ebrima Sillah of The Ministry of Works, a consultant was led by the GPA officer responsible for monitoring and evaluation, Mr. Matarr Sambou, to prepare a ‘Resettlement Action Plan’ process, what a joke. A serious and professionally acceptable resettlement action plan should be informed by:
(i) Deep Sea Port Master Plan and/or written project document that is available to the Community;
(ii) Environmental Impact Assessment Report;
(iii) Social safeguard studies Report; and
(iv) The aspirations and vision of the Community of Sanyang as specified in our Draft Letter of Agreement (LOA).
None of the above is in place. These documents are not available to the Community of Sanyang, and the LOA is still not admitted by the GPA. What, therefore, would be the logic and foundation of a GPA Resettlement Action Plan for potentially affected and afflicted households, businesses, and the community at large?
The GPA, through the Physical Planning Department, has started to give NOTICE on ‘STOP DEVELOPMENT’ and/or ‘DEMOLITION’ along the Sanyang beach. This further strains an already difficult relationship and highlights the concerns with the processes and approaches the GPA continues to insist on, despite requests to engage in ‘participatory processes’ rather than consultations. Basically, decisions are made by State actors in the corridors of power in Banjul and elsewhere, and the community is later informed through so-called ‘pre-entry meetings. This is a wrong approach to sustainable development and livelihood improvements.
A monitoring and evaluation officer, Mr Matarr Sambou, is currently the face of GPA in its interactions with the community of Sanyang. For a project of this magnitude and complexity, the community deserves a higher level of representation from the GPA. This is disrespectful to the people of Sanyang. Such a project should be directly managed by a member of the Executive Management Team of the GPA, in line with ‘best institutional practice’. However, if The GPA Managing Director, Jobarteh, continues to insist on approaches and processes that do not recognise this principle, then he should not expect a ‘safe haven’ among people who have knowledge, experience, and high regard for best institutional practice.
As a matter of fact, our livelihood assets and heritage are being cunningly taken away without inclusive community participation. The GPA, The Ministry of Works, and The WCR Governor’s Office are quietly working with a few individuals who represent an absolute minority, while sidelining the overwhelming majority to attain their goals. The often-cited ‘Tourism Development Area’ used by past Governments to coerce coastal communities and rob them of their land and livelihood assets was implemented in an atmosphere of respect and inclusivity, not division or the exclusion of the voices of the majority, even where they may be perceived as the silent majority. Clear examples include the preservation of the Bakau, Bijilo, Brufut, and Tanje fish landing sites and beaches for community access and use. In cases where the State acquired community land through coercion, those communities were properly compensated, either in cash or through land allocations. Further, the recent Land Policy of the Ministry of Lands clearly provides for compensation, including full and complete compensation, before coercion and/or acquisition of ancestral lands.
Sanyang is not opposed to development. We are asking for a development process that respects our land, protects our livelihoods, and includes our community.
Our land, our beach, our fish
For The Gambia Our Homeland
By Sidi Sanyang
