By Omar Bah
Two Gambians based in the United Kingdom and victims of real estate land grabbing or contract breaching, have urged the government to address the issue of fake real estate proliferation in the country.
“The proliferation of real estate scammers who prey on innocent homebuyers deprive you – the legitimate salespersons, of your hard-earned and professional livelihood,” a victim of blackmail by one real estate agency, Salieu Gumaneh Tunkara tensely told The Standard.
He said government has to intensify its campaign against real estate scammers, including unscrupulous developers, brokers, and agents engaged in the illegal selling of real estate properties.
“The government should stop these illegal transactions in the housing and human settlement projects,” he said.
Tunkara said the real estate company which scammed him has been dragging him for months from one location to another.
“They first allocated a piece of land to me in Jabang and Brufut but in both places, they were told that the particular piece of land was sold out to someone else. They breached the contract on two occasions. Now we reached a level where we are no more interested in the contract and asked them to return our money but they are not cooperating. We became fed up of all the endless empty promises and asked for a refund but for months now, they have not told us anything tangible. When we call, they will not pick and when we go there the story is always the same … we will sort you out. I badly need my money back now,” Tunkara said.
When contacted for comments, the company concerned Africa Real Estate Agency’s director of admin and finance, one Naffie, said she was going to take up the matter at her own level to ensure that there is a conclusion to the whole issue. “People don’t understand how the real estate agencies operate and often they just jump into conclusion. But frankly speaking, no genuine business would want to have issues with their clients. I agree that communication has been a problem but that doesn’t mean we are not going to do anything about it,” she said.
Another Gambian based in UK familiar with these issues, Lamin DF Manneh, a Brufut native, said the government as a short-term measure should educate landowners on choices when it comes to selling land.
“For example, most of our folks do not understand that selling land on freehold should be the very last resort. When it comes to the building of estates, encourage them to get into ‘co-operatives’ with estate developers, and even government bodies, instead of outright selling off of their lands.
Land is too valuable to lose for eternity as it deprives one’s descendants a means for both economic and political power,” he said.
