Housing schemes are now left in the hands of the private sector. The working class cannot afford to purchase or rent in commercial residential buildings.
The working class are finding it extremely difficult to cope with unreasonable high rents for residential purposes especially in Urban Gambia. Housing is very much an issue in the politics of the country. There seem to be no solutions in sight to end the accommodation problems of the people. Housing is a contributor to productivity in the service. Its provision is a governance imperative.
The reasons some civil servants refuse to go on postings to the provinces or disappear from their duty stations include, among others, poor housing. Yet the means to redress the housing problems are in the hands of the people in the Social Security and Housing Finance Corporation (SSHFC), a state owned public enterprise. If this is not happening then, where are the millions of Dalasis in peoples pension money. The SSHFC cannot be seen to be largely redundant in providing housing schemes for the people of this country.
At any given time, SSHFC should request the state to reserve land in designated areas across the country for social housing which is fundamental to the rights of the people. At the local level, municipalities and Area Councils should prioritize housing for the people in their development agendas. Providing the enabling environment for social housing calls for coequal responsibility, between central government and the councils. In other countries in the subregion, foreigners cannot buy land or be allocated land by the state for residential purposes.
They can only lease the land or rent it. Here in the Gambia, foreigners are speeding by grabbing our land at the expense of the future needs of our children and state requirements of social housing, markets, institutional purposes etc.
Housing is a human right and that its advocacy should be of concern to society. All the rights spelt out in the draft new constitution should have put emphasis on social
housing. In England, there is council housing and in most developed countries. This is because in those countries, the welfare of the people is imbued in the governance
system. In most of Africa, as long as the rich and those in power are comfortable, to hell with the welfare of the people. Libya under Ghadafi was the exception in this regard.
I fear that by the time this country wakes up to the Social Housing needs of the people, there will be no land available for such purposes.
By: D M Badjie
Political Scientist / Consultant
