By Assan Bah
The residents of Jabang in the West Coast Region (WCR) have called on the Gambia government to intervene in their long-standing land issues with the Bojang – Kunda Kabilo of Sukuta.
The residents gathered over the weekend to lament their frustrations and called for a lasting solution to the alleged problems meted out to them by the Bojang-Kunda Kabilo of Sukuta.
According to them, the Kabilo claimed to own the place they (Residents) are occupying and asked them to vacate. They condemned their actions and urged the government to intervene to prevent any regrettable actions.
Elders, women, and youth were all seen expressing disappointment with the government’s lack of intervention on the matter, which they described as ‘sensitive and could lead to serious violence if not resolved’.
Speaking to this reporter after the meeting, Mr Simon Mendy, the Secretary of the Village Development Committee (VDC), said the said family had started claiming ownership of some part of Jabang years ago and they want a stop to it.
“There was a time they came with an eviction notice saying they had taken some of our people to court and they won the case and the majority of those mentioned in the judgment have passed away,” he said.
According to him, the said family is back with their alleged claims after previously failing to succeed in their attempts to seize about 600 metres of land from Jabang.
“They came here two or three years ago to claim ownership of 300 metres from both the right-hand side and the left-hand side of the highway, but after having to push and pull with them, they could not succeed. They are back again with a different strategy claiming ownership of certain compounds and that if we don’t act, they will continue coming until they take over all our compounds,” he stated.
According to him, they have written to both the office of the Inspector General of Police IGP) and the Ministry of Lands, but they don’t still have a lasting solution.
He added: “To avoid any confrontations we have written to the office of the Inspector General of Police, the Ministry of Local Government and Lands to know the source of their judgement. But we still don’t have any solution, but we will not relent. If we, however, continue following authorities and they fail to act we might take the law into our hands as we have been constantly following authorities for lasting solutions, but it’s persisting.”
“Because those claiming ownership will only tell us these were our grandfather’s lands and will never tell us they were their father’s lands. We always tell them where they were when the people of Jabang were developing their lands, and they would not give us any answers; they only say ‘this was my grandfather’s land’.”
He expressed concerns about their lands and compounds saying, “The worst thing is the moment they succeed in taking the lands from us, they will sell them immediately and that is what we cannot understand.”
He further said: “Last week we were informed that they [Bojang – Kunda Kabilo] went back to the place again and allegedly closed people’s shops and compounds.”
“The government should therefore intervene and sit with this family and show them that the place is not theirs before any serious issues happen here. Here is where we have and know, therefore if someone wants to come and claim ownership of the place and evict us, it would not end in peace.”
Gibril Colley, the Alkalo of Jabang, called for a stop to the family’s continuous claims of their lands.
“We want the Bojang–Kunda of Sukuta to stop claiming ownership of our lands because the ones they are saying they have taken to court passed away a long time ago.”
He said they made all efforts to resolve the matter, but to no avail and have called for government intervention to prevent conflict between the two communities.
“We have reached out to all relevant authorities and we were promised that it would never happen again, that is what worried us,” he said.
“The government should intervene because the youth are very angry and are ready to defend the village by any means necessary and I might not have the power to stop them. The only thing I can do is relay my message to the government to act before any regrettable things occur. Violence is not good in any society because its outcome is always hard to know or predict.”
This medium would reach out to the relevant authorities and the said family to hear their side of the story.
