“I can strongly inform you that I will never relent to defend my own property. I am ready to take all legal measures to make sure I retain my land or rightly compensated as required by laws of the country,” he said.
Momodou Bocar Semega Janneh, in an interview with The Point, stated that he has been working for over 30 years in the United Kingdom in order to better the living condition of his family before making a decision of permanently coming back to The Gambia to stay with his family.
He reiterated to defend his property with all necessary legal grounds, stating that he and other individuals affected have already sought the service of a legal representative for their only hope.
He revealed that over two million Gambian dalasis was spent to buy the property at Sanyang including its construction.
According to him, he has been staying there over 25 years but with series of “unlawful threats” of losing his land for a public use both during the regime of the former President Yahya Jammeh and the government of President Adama Barrow.
“Well, I can tell you that if I happen to lose my property for the proposed special economic zone and the deep sea-port, I will pack all my belongings and leave the country for good, and even to the extent of my dead body not being brought back to the Gambia for burial. And I mean what I am saying”, he said.
He emphasised that the people of Sanyang were never against the coming of the deep sea-port project in the community but argued that the total land size being requested by both the Gambia Ports Authority and the Government of the Gambia for the establishment of a special economic-zone will no doubt be detrimental to the livelihood of the entire community.
“If the government of the Gambia were interested in establishing special economic zone for the country, they would have not ended of selling a huge land size located at the airport and Half-Die in Banjul mainly designated for such special economic-zones to private companies and individuals.”
“I can tell you that they had one of such special economic zones at the airport but they sold it. They also had one of those at the ports in Banjul and they also sold it. Why did The Gambia government need to spend millions of dalasis to move the people of Half-die from their homes for a special economic zone and now turn to say will use the site for housing estate,” he queried.
