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Momodou
Denmark
11862 Posts |
 Posted - 31 Oct 2026 : 20:46:10
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Soil for the elites
October 30, 2026
By Mustapha K. Darboe
Despite the accompanying regulation of the 35–year-old State Lands Act legally restricting individuals to a single land allocation, systemic political patronage has enabled President Adama Barrow, his family, and wealthy and political elites to acquire multiple properties. Under the guise of state road-clearing initiatives, small-business operators such as car dealers were evicted from what were dubbed green buffer zones, only for part of that land to be reallocated to prominent figures and private entities.
Since 2024, there have been at least two inquiries into state land allocations, and the findings of both were damning. The records were either missing, the process was bypassed, or the law was ignored. In this deep dive by The Republic, we reveal how the President— his sole proprietorship, Majum,— his nephews, and his sister accumulated residential and commercial plots in lucrative areas such as Brufut, Fajara, and Old Yundum, one of them in a layout where a state taskforce found most grants had skipped technical assessment.
And with the ex–Auditor General— Modou Ceesay— removed from office in a move the Supreme Court has since ruled unconstitutional, after he revealed he resisted pressure over his audits, lawmakers across partisan lines have themselves land grants in layouts such as Old Yundum and Tanji, while influential corporate figures and politically connected allies have received high–value commercial plots. This, while everyday Gambians are priced out and excluded by discriminatory allocation requirements, turning public land reserves into private assets for the ruling class………
… On 26 August, 2020, President Barrow was allocated a residential plot in Brufut under reference number SC 70/182/01/pt.VII(60). Exactly one week later, on 2 September, 2020, he was allocated a second residential plot (an extension of an earlier allocation) in the same Brufut layout under reference number SC 70/182/01/pt VII(6). The current lands minister, Hamat Bah, said the President rejected the Brufut plots in favour of an allocation in Fajara South Atlantic, though state records seen by The Republic show the allocations remain in his name. Our request for comments sent to the OP on October 26 was not replied as at the time of this publication.
The President’s third state allocation was a historic prime plot in Fajara set aside for the residence of the Chief Justice. When details of this allocation— marked confidential in the state’s land logs— emerged, activists and opposition figures challenged its legality, arguing the land belonged to the Judiciary and could not be reallocated by executive discretion.
The President as an individual is not the only beneficiary. His sole proprietorship, Majum— which is still not put under a trustee in violation of section 72 of the 1997 constitution— is too. The land logs show the President’s property management business was allocated a plot at the Kamalo Light Industrial Layout…….
Read the rest of the report at:
https://therepublic.gm/soil-for-the-elites/3042
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A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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The Republic: Soil for the elites
