The Edward Francis Small Centre for Rights and Justice is deeply concerned at the recent demolitions of homes in the Salagi Layout area by the Department of Physical Planning and Housing of the Ministry of Lands, Regional Governments and Religious Affairs. We have reviewed their press release and also followed their press conference held today, April 8 as well as monitored testimonies from victims, residents, and community leaders in Sukuta following the demolitions on March 28 and April 3, 2025.
EFSCRJ notes that the issue of land is a contentious matter in which there has been a lot of corruption and disregard of the law involving officials, alkalolu, seyfolu, estate agencies and individuals. We note the Ministry’s March 2025 advisory statement to citizens to be cautious in their dealings with estate agents. Earlier in July 2024, the Ministry issued a press release calling on alkalolu and seyfolu to desist from imposing levies on land transactions. We also welcome the development of a land policy by the Ministry. We consider these are measures intended to curb corruption and land grabbing to bring about a just and equitable management of land in the country.
Notwithstanding, we must state unequivocally that the Ministry and the Government as a whole are the root cause of the precarious land situation in the country. This is because the Government has been selective in their management of land in which they prioritise the interests of officials, businesses, the privileged and influential members of society against the best interest of ordinary citizens in total contravention of the law.
For example, we note in 2013 how the former regime demolished homes and businesses in Batokunku claiming encroachments on the Tourism Development Area (TDA). Since then up to today, several demolition exercises have been undertaken by the Government on the basis that individuals have illegally encouraged on state lands, protected lands, and official layouts.
Yet we note how the Government has degazetted forest parks to give portions of lands to individuals or businesses. The de-gazetting of parts of the Monkey Park to build an international conference centre and allocate to other private enterprises as well as the recent allocation of parts of Salagi Forest to GACH for its basalt storage highlight the unfair nature of land management by the Government. In April 2024, the Ministry granted permission to the GTBoard to allocate part of the Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara Golf Course in Fajara to a private hotel business in total disregard of the law. It must be noted that the developments by private businesses and individuals in the Banjul Tanbi area all the way to Kamalo, Bakau and Kotu strip and many other areas designated as Tourism Development Areas, industrial areas or protected areas came about because of Government allocation. Without such official allocation, those businesses and individuals would not have obtained and developed those areas in the first place.
By 2024, the situation became serious enough that the Ministry itself had to set up various task forces on land allocations claiming encroachments were made in the Tanbi Wetland area in Bakau and in Kamalo. In January 2025, Minister Hamat Bah released findings of the Kamalo inquiry at a press conference but has failed to share the report publicly until today.
Interestingly, Minister Bah said the Kamalo File got lost and is yet to be found. Since then, his Ministry has yet to inform citizens as to the status of implementation of the task force report. What is evident is that the structures in these areas remain standing without demolitions, raising the question as to why poor Salagi residents have to suffer, when they had also obtained official documents to build their homes.
It is a fact that the Government has allocated plots of land to ministers, top officials, and National Assembly Members among others even when those individuals already have their own private landed property. This is in violation of the State Lands Act. EFSCRJ had written to the Ministry in October 2024 in line with the Access to Information Act to request a list of all land allocations between 2017 to 2024 and until today the Ministry has not even acknowledged our letter.
Rather, we saw how the Minister Hamat Bah went further to illegally allocate land earmarked for the residence of the Chief Justice to Pres Adama Barrow, illegally.
In light of the foregoing, EF Small Centre hereby condemns the Salagi demolition as illegal, unjust, and discriminatory. We join the victims as well as the residents of Sukuta including the National Assembly Member, Fatou Cham of Sanimentereng to condemn the demolition. We urge the victims to come together to pursue legal action for justice. EFSCRJ will provide every assistance we can to this effort.
We found the press release issued by the Department of Physical Planning and House on April 7 and the press conference organised by the Ministry on April 8 as attempts to justify an illegal act.
Individuals who build homes in such places as Salagi do not necessarily encroach. They usually buy the land and get papers to build. Some of these residents have already built their homes and moved in for several years without Government intervention. It is not enough for the Government to say they issued a press release to that effect. We have reviewed the media landscape and the Ministry’s Facebook page, but the only press release we noted is the one issued on March 25, 2025, advising individuals to be cautious with estate agents. We cannot find any press release about the current issue in Salagi.
Secondly, officials at the press conference including the Deputy Government Spokesman Sankanu keep repeating that individuals can utilise the ATI Act to request information from the Ministry when they fully know that public institutions and officials do not respect and adhere to that law. We are even more disturbed by the fact that the Department stated in its press release that the lands encroached upon were allocated to the Police, Gamtel, Nawec, fire service, market and car park yet remained undeveloped. We ask why the department would allocate lands to public institutions for public facilities, yet these institutions fail to develop such lands for years only for the same Department to complain why such lands are encroached upon.
Considering the above issues and concerns, EF Small Centre hereby recommends:
1. The demolition exercises cease immediately and those affected already fully compensated to rebuild their homes.
2. Future demolition exercises planned in the areas listed by the Department to be abandoned. These are Old Yundum, Coastal Road, Tanji and Sotokoi layouts.
3. The Ministry to release reports of investigations of land allocations and ensure full enforcement of the recommendations and provide a status update.
4. The Ministry collaborates with local and traditional authorities to properly identify and demarcate lands with adequate provision or creation of spaces for recreational, public services and other public facilities.
5. The Department of Physical Planning and Housing to return lands taken from communities in Sukuta known as the Salagi Layout or provide adequate compensation to demolished homes.
6. All listed layouts should be subjected to further review to ensure that communities are not denied their lands unfairly and adequate compensation is provided on time and in full. Until today, the full compensation to the Kabilolu from which lands for the Salagi layout were taken has not been fulfilled.
7. The Ministry develops legislation on estate development to provide adequate regulation on their operations to protect community lands and individuals who buy land from these agencies.
8. The Ministry responded to EFSCRJ on its request for the release of all land allocations to institutions, businesses, officials, private individuals, and other entities from January 2017 to December 2024.
9. The Ministry and the Department to return the demolished homes and lands in Batokunku in 2013 to their original owners with full compensation without delay as recommended by the Janneh Commission.
10. The Department maps the entire country to review the locations and status of all land development for residences, industries and agriculture among others to take a fair and just approach for effective and equitable land allocation and management.
2025: The Year of Transparency and Accountability.
