Appearing before the National Assembly’s Special Select Committee on the sale and disposal of assets identified by the Janneh Commission, Mr. Colley admitted that while his office was aware of properties, documents being cancelled and subsequently sold, the legal basis for such transactions was questionable at best.
“The government owns the land, so it can sell it,” Mr. Colley said, asserting that the Solicitor General could act on behalf of the state to dispose lands, a claim that raised eyebrows among legal minds in the room.
Pressed repeatedly by committee members to cite a specific law authorising the Solicitor General or any legal office other than the Ministry of Lands to sell or allocate state land, Mr. Colley was unable to provide a definitive answer. He promised instead to furnish the legal reference “at a later date,” stating, “I don't want to give you any wrong authority here.”
One of the most revealing moments came when Mr. Colley described the process by which land titles were cancelled based on internal memos and administrative instructions, many of which, he admitted, did not follow proper legal procedures. He conceded that while cancellations were carried out, the memos themselves lacked formal authority.
“Technically, I said it was not proper,” he said, before asserting that subsequent government actions, including White Paper publications, later gave those cancellations legitimacy.
Mr. Colley further revealed that once a lease is cancelled and a new one issued, all records of the original title are erased from the official registry.
“Once you cancel the lease, that’s the end of it, we don’t make any further cross referencing,” he admitted, effectively acknowledging that the root history of some controversial land transactions may now be unrecoverable in official databases.
Mr. Colley repeatedly insisted that the government and by extension, the Solicitor General could sell land simply by virtue of state ownership. Asked where such power was derived from, he replied: “We have one government maybe the Ministry of Lands, maybe the Ministry of Justice.”
When pressed further, Mr. Colley conceded: “This is my view… I’m not here to provide a legal opinion.”
The committee has requested official documentation or legislative authority confirming that the Solicitor General can act unilaterally in the sale of land.
