By Omar Bah
Yesterday, three prominent activists, Baboucarr Nyang, Omar Camara, and Madi Jobarteh submitted a petition to the Clerk of the National Assembly requesting the body to investigate the ‘allocation of state lands to state and non-state officials, individuals, organisations, and businesses between 19 January 2017 to 31 December 2023.
In the petition shared with The Standard, the activists also requested the full disclosure of names of all individuals allocated state lands during the same period.
The petition seeks the identification of all beneficiaries of state lands, including the names of the respective beneficiaries, the size of the piece of land allocated to each beneficiary, the physical state of the piece of land allocated, the location of the piece of land allocated, and the dates of both the application and allocation of the piece of land. The activists also requested assembly to determine whether the allocations met the due process without any element of undue influence, bribery, or any inappropriate official conduct.
It also seeks to determine whether the beneficiaries met the full eligibility requirements as set out in the State Lands Act, 1991, and other relevant legislation. The petitioners want the Assembly to determine whether allocations to non-state individuals, organisations, and businesses followed due process and met the legal requirements in full without any undue influence or inappropriate official conduct.
The trio also wants the Assembly to determine cases of misapplication of the law or incidence of undue influence and bribery leading to the allocation of state lands to a beneficiary and whether legal and ethical standards and justifications were met or not in the allocation of state lands to beneficiaries.
According to the activists, the purpose of the petition is to inquire into the allocation of state lands to public officials, individuals, state and non-state institutions, organisations, and businesses to ensure that these allocations were done in line with the 1997 Constitution, the State Lands Act, 1991, the 1991, the Land Acquisition and Compensation Act, 1991, and all relevant laws and free from undue influence, bribery, exploitation of official privilege, or any inappropriate means. The petition equally seeks to ensure that due process and the rule of law were strictly followed and that the allocations were legal and legitimate. It also seeks to ensure accountability in the allocation of all state lands.
“This petition came out of public concerns on allegations of impropriety, unfairness, and inappropriate and illegal allocation of state land by the Executive. (We) believe the petition relates to a matter of public concern and interest and is within the National Assembly’s supervisory powers to ensure accountability in all state institutions, particularly in the functioning of the executive,” the activists added.
The petitioners added that the petition specifically refers to the president, vice president, cabinet ministers, National Assembly Members, senior officials in ministries, departments, and agencies, judicial officers, private companies and businesspersons, private citizens/individuals, state institutions, and non-state institutions or organisations.
