By: Kemo Kanyi
Secretary-General and leader of the UDP Lawyer OusainouDarboe said when government layouts were being allocated to his family members, he had already parted ways with the Barrow government.
The lands ministry said in a press release on July, 3rd that the family members of the long-standing opposition politician were beneficiaries of plots of land at government layouts during the PPP dispensation and when he was the foreign minister and vice president.
However, Lawyer Darboe said when his daughter applied for a plot at a government layout in 2019, he was not in anyinfluential government position.
“Yes, there was an allocation to Fatoumata Fenda Darboe; my daughter at Bijilo Mini Layout. Her date of application was May 19, 2019, and the allocation was approved in 2023 and my wife got her plot in 2022, years after I was sacked from the government,”Darboe clarified at a mass gathering of UDP supporters in Brikama dubbed the Yellow Day.
“What influence do I have at this time? This was when I was not in the government. I never used my position as a minister to gain anything for my family or myself because I thought it was not wrong legally, but it was morally wrong. So, I have never done it,” he added.
Darboe explained that he and other civil servants were allocated plots of land during Jawara’s regime in an approved layoutthrough eligibility criteria.
He described the lands’ ministry’s press release as “misleading”, saying when he acquired that land, President Adama Barrow was still going to school.
Darboe then used the Yellow Day to issue a challenge to lands minister Hamat Bah to explain to citizens why government land, which was not part of the layout, was allocated to Mr. Barrow.
“Mr Amat Bah, come back and tell us why you have to steal our land and give it to President Barrow. That’s what you have to explain to Gambians not this type of comical press statement,” Darboe stressed.
The UDP leader said The Gambia is on a worrying path, highlighting that the burden lies on every Gambia to fight forfuture generations.
Darboe said Barrow should not peddle his influence to disadvantage the citizens. He went on:”The minister can’t allocate any land to anyone that’s not under the government layout. The land allocated to the President belongs to the government, not part of the layouts. That residence of the chief justice belongs to the government and the minister and the President abused their powers at the expense of Gambians to allocate that plot to the President. That allocation is, in fact, in contravention of the Constitution because it’s not a part of an approved layout.”
The politician and senior lawyer said allocation can only be suitable in government-approved layouts, where every Gambian can acquire a plot of land unless otherwise.
“Anyone, who has a compound, is not qualified to be allocated a land from the approved layout. President Adama Barrow said he has about seven compounds. Under the laws of The Gambia, he is not qualified to be allocated a plot of land in a government-approved layout let alone be given government reserve land that’s not an approved layout,” he maintained.
Darboe challenged Minister Bah to provide any application that was made by the President to acquire the said plot.
“Everyone has to make an application to get a plot from an approved layout. So, I want to see the President’s application for that land. I am sure there was no application,” he asserted.
The UDP leader advised President Barrow to cease any development on that because he may forfeit it to the State because it’s not an approved layout but State land. He equatedany development on the land to an economic crime.