The origins of land ownership may be debated, but in The Gambia today, the consequences of lack of appropriate safeguards are clear: our land is in crisis. Our land is crying beneath our feet. Therefore, if we are to build a just and prosperous Gambia, we must begin with the land beneath our feet — not as something to be carved up and sold/resold- causing disputes of ownership-, but as the very source of our identity and survival.
Although there is an urgent need to raise stronger opposition against the unregulated sale of the land, sadly the damage may already be done. This reality makes land reform not just important, but necessary and very urgent. I submit that measures taken by previous governments and the present have not demonstrably protected the vulnerable individuals and communities from having their inheritance/identity and wealth stolen by greedy, politically connected individuals or businesses with deep pockets.
Most readers will not disagree with the position that across our regions, the hunger for land has reached boiling point, creating scars on 1) the land, 2) individuals/families- forcing some off their lands/fields and 3) society by dividing and weakening our bonds. In some cases, ancestral or communal lands are being divided, fenced off, and sold or resold, leading to disputes and expensive court cases over ownership. Some lands are also being taken by governments or institutions, often without informing or seeking the informed consent of the communities that have lived on, owned, and cared for them for generations. This results in the erosion of traditional land rights and the displacement of long-standing community custodians of the land.
Yes, we can probably agree that some of our most serious land injustices were committed by colonisers, but it is also the case now that our clueless and self-serving governments, politically connected individuals, some communal landowners and businesses have become the largest perpetrators of deliberate unchecked injustices against individuals, families, themselves and communities. The state is often nowhere to be seen- a reality that is not about to change with the launch of the land reform committee by the current administration’s judiciary. In fact, the state has not only joined in the injustice by failing to protect the land, but it participates in the very dispossession and unforgiveable destruction it should prevent or address. Call me a pessimist, but it is my strong submission that the beneficiaries from the current Judiciary’s work may be the Committee members and the consultant, not the landowners or those who bring their cases before the courts. It would be beautiful to be proven wrong.
Under Yahya Jammeh’s government, he treated our land as his personal property. But even years after he has gone into exile, little seems to have changed. Just as in Jammeh’s time, ancestral land seems to be dispossessed and used to reward loyalty for no justifiable reason. We have system that is badly broken wherever one looks– it has woefully failed the people. The truth is, many Gambians have limited to no legal protection over the land they work and live on. In rural areas, most communal landowners lack legal recognition or land titles, making them vulnerable to exploitation by a clueless government, wealthy and politically connected individuals who buy their valuable land cheaply and force them off it. Even when land titles exist, they are often meaningless due to outdated/adulterated entries in the registries, vague boundaries, insatiable greed and widespread corruption. As if that is not enough, the legal system favours the wealthy, leaving ordinary people without justice. We need to rethink what land means.
Land is not just a private commodity to be bought and sold/resold like a handbag or a car.
Given that the government has failed, credible civil society groups and academics should step in, inform/educate the rural communities to view land not merely as property, but as a shared ecological, cultural, and spiritual resource meant to sustain future generations, not just to profit a few in the present.
And here is something that seems to receive little attention. When it comes to land injustice, women probably suffer the most. In many communities, land passes only through the male line. This must change. I hope we can agree that women mostly feed the country and that they deserve to own land, inherit land, and protect land just as men do. I submit that we need a competent and committed government, not obtained in the current, to seriously address the land issue. I have very little faith that a judiciary reform of the type launched can fix land disputes.
