In a press release signed by the Secretary General, Celestine Kujabi, the group said the exercise comes at a time when there's a general outcry on the unaffordable standards of living coupled with the high rate of unemployment which have forced a lot of Gambians to take up small scale businesses to make ends meet.
“Unfortunately, there's little or not enough space for such petty businesses and many have resorted to occupying the spaces very close to traffic and public spaces.”
He added “with the creation of the task force by physical planning and The Gambia Police Force, we have been informed of the hosting of the OIC as the reason for this unprecedented demolitions. Our concern is why have the people been allowed to use these locations, paying the GRA and the KMC without being informed about the illegal occupation of these locations considering their proximity to the highways and public spaces? It's also beyond reason, as in the case in Busumbala, where a family was evicted in a compound they lived and paid rates for decades,” he asked?
“This is unacceptable in any progressive society where affordable food and shelter is a fundamental human right. It's known that land and location is very limited in a country less than 12,000 sq kms, so it's therefore very important for the physical planning, in consultation with the local government authorities, to give land allocation a priority. It's time to understand that land is the most important natural resource that needs to be given utmost priority, as almost all global conflicts emanated from land issues.”
He highlighted that it would have been very appropriate for the authorities to engage the victims of the exercise in a dialogue prior to the demolition process.
“ we are still calling on the authorities to engage those severely affected considering the high cost of their structures and investments. We also urge landlords and businesses that have encroached beyond their legally defined boundaries to desist from such acts and be law abiding.”
“As a concern group, we call on the physical planning of the Ministry of Local Government and the local government authorities to work together with the law and by the law stop the construction of illegal structures as well as the land disputes that might escalate into conflicts. Gambians have suffered too long on land disputes.”
