Folks,
As we wait for the availability of an “authentic, verified and certified”
demarcated map showing where both the TDA and Taf’s proposed housing
project at Brufut lies, I wish to give an account of the discussions I had
with him concerning the said project.
As Tombong rightly said, the theater most suited to adjudicate this issue
is the Gambian courts and all we can do in this forum is to educate each on
how to avoid such cases in future. The best way to go about it, in my
opinion, is to bring forth whatever documents that might be relevant to the
issue and let those knowledgeable in their interpretation, do the
interpreting. In line with this, I have spoken to Tapha Njie about the
progress being made about the scanning of the scaled map showing where both
the TDA and his proposed project lie. He has promised to let me have it
sometime next week. I also hope to visit the site myself, time allowing, to
see where this disputed land is and what structures exist there right now.
Until then, here is what transpired between Taf and myself when I visited
him earlier in the week.
Have a good weekend, Gassa
=================Taf’s side of the story================
According to Taf, the idea behind “Operation House the Nation” came about
as a result of the Africa Day Forum by the World Bank that he attended in
Washington in 1998. It was during that meeting that Gambia’s former
ambassador to the US, Mr. Crispin Grey-Johnson sounded him about the
possibilities of the private sector complementing Government’s efforts in
providing affordable quality housing for Gambians. Mr. Grey-Johnson later
organized a meeting at the Gambian Embassy during which he was introduced
to people who might be interested in such a venture. Lizzie Ulson, Karamba
Touray, Dr. Mohamed Kah and wife and Latjor Ndow also attended that meeting
amongst others.
When he got back to The Gambia, he held some discussions with government
officials who also responded positively to the idea. He was first allocated
land within the Kanifing buffer zone, which was later withdrawn when
development work started. Some people speculated as to why that project was
stopped especially when the then SOS for lands was relieved of his post
shortly after. At the time, the people who farmed the land allocated to him
complained to the government about the allocation. Some Government
officials explained that the decision to stop Taf was because government
had other plans for the area.
Coming to the Brufut dispute proper, this is what has to say about it:
“When Taf Holding Company Limited applied for land under its housing
development project, the application was forwarded to the Land
Administration Board for consideration. After several sittings on the
matter, the Board approved the application subject to the following:
the application be considered and endorsed by the then Tourism Area
Development Area Board since the land applied for falls within the TDA and
the Physical Planning Development Board to consider the issue of a change
of use since the area was designated for tourism purposes.
After the TDA endorsed the application and the change of use granted by the
Planning Board, the Land Administration approved the allocation but
considering the scope of the project, the Department of State for Local
government and Lands further submitted the matter to Cabinet for final
approval.
Cabinet considered the application and approved the allocation to Taf
Holding Company Limited of two sites – Yundum and Brufut on condition that
the Yundum project is implemented first.”
According to Taf, his project “Operation House The Nation” is meant to
cater for the needs of all Gambians across all income categories. If this
project proves successful, it will make it easier for young couples and
families with steady income to acquire property much more easily than is
the case now. “In fact if this proves very successful, we will soon have a
housing bank where people can get cheap mortgages rather being given
building loans, some of which are never used in the building”, he said. The
incidence of high profile disputes particularly between Gambians in the
Diaspora who sometimes claim to have been duped of large sums of money by
family members under the pretext of building houses for them would drop
drastically.
The Yundum site which has 210 housing units, tarred road, water,
electricity and telephone connections also has paved sidewalks, all housing
units landscaped and over 1,000 fruit trees planted on one side of each
street. Social amenities such as a mosque, market, garbage collection three
times a week, a nursery and primary school. The three-bedroom housing units
cost about 13,200 Pounds Sterling each and payable over a 24-month time
frame by equal monthly installments that are fixed. The two-bedroom housing
units cost about 11,000 Pounds Sterling, again payable over a 24-month time
frame.
For the Brufut site, he plans to build about 350 luxury-housing units, 2,3
and 4-bedroom apartments for the high-income bracket. The cost of these
housing units range between US $138,700 to US $35,750. To acquire any one
of these housing units, one makes a 10% down payment and the remaining 90%
you pay over sixty months by equal monthly installments.
(For more information about these two projects, please visit:
http://www.tafgambia.com/estate.htm)
When I raised the issue of government conniving with his company to deprive
poor people of their communal land, this is what he had to say:
“Pa, we have all seen how land is developed into properties throughout the
country; Fajara, Kotu, Kanifing, Brikama, you name it. In which of these
places has government built first-class roads, markets, schools, etc. and
brought in all the amenities in one go? Where has there been modalities set
to take care of garbage collection right from the word go? In each of these
areas I am doing just that. In Yundum, we constructed 3.7 Km of bituminized
roads and in Brufut we are constructing a total of 11 Km of bituminized
road network.
Apart from these, my company is the biggest private company in The Gambia
in terms of the people I employ. With these projects, I am augmenting the
incomes of over a thousand families. Now tell me this, If you where the
head of state what would you do?
One other thing to consider is that one of the incentives government gives
to foreign investors, wishing to invest in the country, is land. Should I
be exempted from this incentive simply because I am a local Gambian
entrepreneur?”
On the claim by the people of Manneh Kunda for ownership of the disputed
land, this is what he had to say:
“Pa, I believe the problem arose when government initiated a study to see
if the area allocated to the TDA is not too much. The Department of
physical planning carried out the study and a recommendation was made to
government to reduce the breadth of the land from 800 Metres to about 500-
550 Metres. To date, I can tell you that Government has still not approved
the recommendation. Somehow, this was leaked to the people who owned it
before it was leased to the TDA in the early 1970s. Unfortunately, this was
coupled with some of the people thinking that the land leased to the TDA
stopped at the road. This is not the case! Another thing is that from the
moment that the land was allocated to us, government asked us to pay a
certain amount to compensate those who have been farming it over the years.
An amount was agreed with government and a cheque was drawn and handed over
to government. This happened right in beginning. I can also tell you this;
the majority of people who claim that what government compensated them is
insufficient do not even come from Brufut. These are people who bought land
from some members of the community at a cost more than what government is
willing to pay. I can give you the names of all those who bought land there
and want a full refund which some members of the community cannot afford,
but this will only aggravate a very sensitive issue. Finally, didn’t the
lands allocated to people in Brusubi, Nemasu, Kotu, Bakoteh, Kanifing,
Yundum, Fajara etc belong to people/clans before government declared that
all land belonged to the state? Contrary to what some people are saying,
this land was legally acquired from government through established
channels. I do not have any problems with anyone. I am sure very soon some
compromise will be reached and we all move on. In the mean time I will
arrange to provide you with a copy of the scaled map of the area leased to
the TDA.
Another dimension to the issue has to do with some rivalry that exists
between the Manneh and Subba clans (that’s where the Alkalo comes from).
Anyway, that is being handled by a council of elders and I need not go into
that”
--
There is a time in the life of every problem when it is big enough to see,
yet small enough to solve (Mike Leavitt)
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