By: Nyima Sillah
The ongoing land saga issue that is attracting more comments from Gambians since unveiled has put a question mark on the leadership of President Adama Barrow and Lawyer OusainuDarboe this was emphasized by one of the Gambia human rights Lawyer Assan Martin, “as both leaders display selfishness.
In an interview with The Voice on Monday, the human rights lawyer hinted that both party leaders displayed greed and selfishness in the sense that they were unfair to the public by grabbing what belonged to the public which exposed them, and put a question mark on their judgment and their leadership.
“After the public knowing what they know about the saga, are these two people fit to govern our country? Martin asked. He added: “Barrow and Darboe have manifested incompetency, exposing themselves to selfishness and greediness. Gambians should not allow these two persons to continue governing the country, and should not vote for any of them in the 2026 presidential election. Because they are from the same school of thought,” Lawyer Assan Martins argued.
He divulged that Gambians should have plans to establish a new political system and end political cults, arguing that the fight between UDP and NPP has cost the country a lot and keeps dragging the country backward.
The Rights lawyer went on to say that the issue of land grabbing, and land location in the country is bad and unfair, claiming that some ministers grabbed lands and other ministers have been allocated lands from different places in a “very” unfair process.
“The Ministry of Lands is not doing a good job in its land allocation thus the country’s reserve lands are all been allocated. These lands could be reserved for the future but there is a total mismanagement of the land tenure system and no good mechanism is put in place to resolve the issue. The public needs to know more about what has happened and we are calling on the Ministry of Lands to be careful and remember that an accountability day would come and would explain to the Gambians how these lands are allocated,” Martin stated.
He argued that the allocation of land is one-sided it is only a few individuals benefit from it while some average citizens who work for 20-30 years of their life have no land.
Furthermore, Martin suggested that the National Audit Office (NAO) should mount an investigation at the Ministry of Land, if there is any malpractice, they can have it in their report. He, therefore, tasked the parliamentarian to summon the Minister of Land to the assembly to tell the public the realities on the ground.