{"id":422397,"date":"2011-05-11T10:59:31","date_gmt":"2011-05-11T10:59:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/05\/11\/lands-commission-ends-sitting-as-ps-manneh-others-testify\/"},"modified":"2011-05-11T10:59:31","modified_gmt":"2011-05-11T10:59:31","slug":"lands-commission-ends-sitting-as-ps-manneh-others-testify","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/11\/lands-commission-ends-sitting-as-ps-manneh-others-testify\/","title":{"rendered":"Lands Commission Ends Sitting As PS Manneh, Others Testify"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Daily Observer<\/a> (Banjul)<\/p>\n

Sanna Jawara<\/p>\n

11 May 2011<\/p>\n

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The Lands Commission chaired by Justice Mahoney wrapped-up its sittings Tuesday, with Abdoulie Manneh, permanent secretary No. 2 at the Ministry of Local Government and Lands returning to give evidence with regards to certain issues relating to lands located on the Brufut Height, Bijilo and Salajie among others. PS Manneh together with Kebba Ceesay, former director of Physical Planning and Housing and Abdoulie Tamba, managing director of AMRC came to clear doubts over the aforementioned issues.<\/p>\n

PS Abdoulie Manneh<\/strong><\/p>\n

Abdoulie Manneh, the third and last witness of the day, was asked to explain issues relating to a portion of land located within the Brufut Heights from the Gamtel House towards the sea with specific reference to relationship between customary land and TDA land. He replied by making reference to what he called recommendations made by a particular commission which empowered the Secretary Of State at the time to look into issues of illegal developments and make appropriate decisions, as a result of which Bijilo, Brufut and Tanji layouts came into being.<\/p>\n

PS Manneh told the Commission that the Bijilo layout was created between the long strip of land from Bijilo towards Brufut and that was how the AMRC was compensated land within the said strip of land. He recalled that from 2001-2002, there was a land dispute between two kabilos in Brufut over an area of land and the matter was taken to the court. He however said he has no idea as to how the matter ended up at court. He also said that sometime last year he got information about the said being settled out of court, but he did not know the exact circumstances that led the matter being settled out of court. Questioned whether he knows the procedure used by traditional land owners within the said Brufut Height when selling their lands, Mr Manneh replied in the negative, saying he did not know because such procedure never came before him.<\/p>\n

This answer made the Lands Commission chairman, Justice Mahoney to give PS Manneh a document for identification on the ground that the individual concerned in it alleged that she bought a land in the said area from one Malamin Bojang, the alkalo of Wulingkama and that the purchase was followed by leasing of the land. The Local Government and Lands PS, after a thorough examination of the document said that based on what he knows about a normal transfer document, this one right in his hands was short, because it has to go through a normal procedure starting from the area council, before a lease could be granted.<\/p>\n

He was then given another document for identification and he replied that the letter in his hand was a different one, because the person concerned may have applied for a lease, which was granted and the person decided to sell the land and in such cases, the individual has to apply to the director of Lands for transferred of lease to the purchaser. He explained that such a situation cannot prevent both parties from effecting their local transfer of ownership. The Commission then informed the PS that the alkalo of Wulingkama himself said he did not effect any local transfer of ownership, but instead went straight to the Department of Lands and Survey for the transfer. PS Manneh replied that the alkalo should not have done that, but should have done the local transfer before going to the Lands Department. Again questioned whether a lease will be granted for a file where local transfer was not done, he said no, such a lease will not be granted.<\/p>\n

About the AMRC Bijilo land<\/strong><\/p>\n

When asked to explain issues relating to a land belonging to the AMRC in Bijilo, and a piece of land given to the African Centre, the PS replied that this was a very long time issue, but based on his understanding the land was in connection to the Bijilo compensation for the AMRC.<\/p>\n

Old Jeshwang land<\/strong><\/p>\n

The PS was also questioned in connection to a land where Elton Oil Company is presently occupying. When asked if the land in question is reserved or Zone area, PS Manneh replied that it is a Zone area and he accepted the land was indeed allocated to the Elton Oil Company. He was then asked to explain what happened to the customary land owners, prompting him to make an extensive reference to what he called customary ownership and the Lands Administration Act. According to him, places like Brufut, Tanji and others were covered by the Lands Administration act, but Old Jeshwang has never been covered by the said act and as such he (PS Manneh) could not understand how customary owners could claim ownership of the land in question.<\/p>\n

PS Manneh accepted comments made by the Commission that every one has a constitutional right to be compensated whenever his\/ her land have been taken away. The Lands Commission chairman further gave another document to PS Manneh for identification and explanation as to whether allocation of land could be made outside of a layout. He replied in the negative, saying one cannot make allocation outside the layout. The PS said Salajie layout was divided into two, such as the main Salajie and the extension, but the whole area is called Salajie area. AMRC’s Abdoulie Tamba was the first to mount the witness box, where he was asked to explain land allocated to the AMRC somewhere in Brufut.<\/p>\n

Tamba replied that the land in question is located in Bijilo instead of Brufut and he explained among other things that, the land in question was forfeited by the 1998 Lands Commission and it was given to the AMRC. He added that the land in connection to the African Centre was also given to the AMRC, but the AMRC was later compensated with another land Bijilo, but this particular compensation process was not completed and the land was later sold to Arab Gambia Islamic Bank (AGIB) by the lands Sales Committee.<\/p>\n

Asked by the commission as to whether there was any document in connection to the said land, Tamba said the matter was investigated, but the AMRC was never compensated.<\/p>\n

According to the AMRC boss, the second land allocated to them was to some extent overlapped with the health centre in Bijilo. He confirmed that the second land allocated to the AMRC is where AGIB is located. This explanation made the Commission to produce a document for the AMRC boss to identify the exact location of the land in question. He explained the exact location of the land. When asked if the AMRC kept a list of lands sold, Tamba replied in the affirmative and said they have a list of lands sold and some of the lands are located around the African Centre.<\/p>\n

Kebba Ceesay<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kebba Ceesay was the second witness to mount the witness box, where he was also told to shed light on certain allocated issues in his capacity as the former director of Physical Planning and Housing. He then handed a document to identify customary and reserve lands located within the Brufut Height. The former Physical Planning and Housing boss responded that he could see the area in question right from the document he was holding, but has no idea on how a portion of the area falls under the Tourism Development Area (TDA).<\/p>\n

“As the director, I found certain areas from the Brufut Height towards Kartong falls under the Tourism Development Area (TDA), but I don’t know how a portion of the area in question came under the TDA, as such I cannot tell as to how the area came under the TDA,” he said. When told to explain what procedure customary landowners will use whenever they wanted to sell lands located within the said area, Ceesay replied that he would expect them to go to the area council for transfer of ownership. At that juncture he was shown a transfer of ownership document for identification. He identified the document and said the procedure used in it is different from what he just explained. The Lands Commission chairman Justice Mahoney then asked the witness to explain the reason why the document is different from what he said. The witness replied that the document in question was done by the minister. He added that the minister has a right to do so. When further asked if he would expect the area council do such, he replied in the affirmative.<\/p>\n

Further responding to series of questions posed to him from the Lands Commission, Kebba Ceesay denied knowing a portion of land located on the Brufut Height was given back to the traditional owners. According to him, such decision was not done during his tenure of office. He said: “I have no idea as to when a portion of land located on the Brufut Height was given back to the traditional owners. It may be done before I came to the office, but I have no idea about such and I have no idea as to when a portion of land located within the Brufut Height was removed from the TDA. Well I cannot remember the exact date or month, but I remember when Taf started development the area, TDA was reduced from the area in questioned.”<\/p>\n

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\nLands Commission Ends Sitting As PS Manneh, Others Testify<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Daily Observer (Banjul) Sanna Jawara 11 May 2011 The Lands Commission chaired by Justice Mahoney wrapped-up its sittings Tuesday, with Abdoulie Manneh, permanent secretary No. 2 at the Ministry of Local Government and Lands returning to give evidence with regards to certain issues relating to lands located on the Brufut Height, Bijilo and Salajie among others. PS Manneh together with Kebba Ceesay, former director of Physical Planning and Housing and Abdoulie Tamba, managing director of AMRC came to clear doubts over the aforementioned issues. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-422397","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-entertainment"},"yoast_head":"\nLands Commission Ends Sitting As PS Manneh, Others Testify - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/11\/lands-commission-ends-sitting-as-ps-manneh-others-testify\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Lands Commission Ends Sitting As PS Manneh, Others Testify - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"The Daily Observer (Banjul) Sanna Jawara 11 May 2011 The Lands Commission chaired by Justice Mahoney wrapped-up its sittings Tuesday, with Abdoulie Manneh, permanent secretary No. 2 at the Ministry of Local Government and Lands returning to give evidence with regards to certain issues relating to lands located on the Brufut Height, Bijilo and Salajie among others. 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