Gambia:Corruption: Major Land Grapping Scandal Unveiled!!!

The problem of land in the Gambia

“The dangerous thing about this is that the likes of Ebrima Jaiteh and Abdoulie Sissoho with a small connection with law enforcement agents are handed power to order for an arrest of anyone they deem fit without probable cause. He was seen chatting with Yankuba Touray the former minister of local government and lands minutes before the above photo was taken at Bijilo just next to the Elton, on another land that was acquired through the tourism development project,” said the solution findings investigator.

How to build a 14 bedroom, 10 million Dalasi ($400,000) mansion in Gambia without living the Gambia to hustle and not producing anything

…The Shady trade of land that is marginalizing the huge number of our population: People that earn their income in the Gambia.

By the Investigator

If you travelled to the Gambia in the past year you will notice this beautiful mansion in the above picture along the coastal road just opposite the Paradise estate, this is the property of Ebrima Jaiteh, after three months of investigation Solution Findings will explain how Ebrima Jaiteh managed to acquire his wealth.

Ebrima Jaiteh a Malian descendant as seen on the picture above with no formal education, not producing anything has managed to build a 14 bedroom mansion costing about 10 million Dalais ($400,000), he did this through the trade of land, some of the means in which he do business appear to be very shady.

Almost every compound in the Gambia has a family member overseas that supports or feeds them, Ebrima’s strategy is to sit and wait for the semesters to come and spend their hard earn income. He is a very smart person indeed he chooses a methodology of business that every semester have to start with, that is to buy a plot of land. He has managed to acquire wide varieties of land in and around the Coastal road; the problem with this is that there may be some illegality in the means of acquiring and reselling of lands. Plots of land 20m x 30m in the United States locating in decent residential areas with paved road, electricity, water and municipal services cost an average of $5,000 (125,000), I don’t understand why the likes of Ebrima Jaiteh gouache the prices of lands with the same measurements without paved roads, no electricity, water and no municipal services to $10,000 (250,000 Dalais) or more. There has also been complaints about double selling of plot of lands. Why go and hustle when you can sit at home and collect the wealth of people that struggle hourly for years? Below we explain how he did it.

               Acquisition of land:

Falsely apply for huge agricultural or Tourist development lands which are free, fence them for some years and then divide them into multiple lands and then sell them at killing prices. When confronted about the uneven ownership of plot of lands he pointed at one Serign Jobe whom he said owned more than 400 plots of lands including the one in front of his house with the length of five city blocks. Ebrima will take one SUV that he obtain by trade and re-trade it with a plot of land that runs about 100m X 100m with local farmers, he will then divide the plot of land in to 10 different lands and then sell each for 250,000 Dalais. The SUV that worth 200,000 Dalais which he did not pay for has turned him a margin of 2.5 million Dalais. The fact of the matter is that there are lots illegalities in the acquisition of lands in the Gambia and authorities need to regulate the buying and selling of land if not this will marginalize a huge member of our society, people that make their living in the Gambia. 

                       Smoothness

With a very soft tone Ebrima will make you believe that you are indeed buying with a great deal, he will start by stating that land is scarce now and the price of his lands are cheaper than the market, for a semester staying for a couple of weeks, this will sound like a great deal. There are more lands than people can buy in the Gambia, it is a myth that the value of land will increase annually hence leads to over pricing. You can see a land seller selling one piece of land for years and hunting for buyers all over the country. On one occasion we have watched Ebrima as he bargain on paying taxes to the Alkalo of Sukuta for a piece of land that he sold. He succeeds on paying half of the charged taxes through tribal jokes and lots of smile. 

                     Show of Wealth

On the way to showing you the lands he has for sale, Ebrima will point at his expensive house and different other properties he claimed to own. Ebrima goes to an extend of seeking people with expensive cars and proposing them to trade their cars with a piece of plot, he will exaggerate the value of his lands and sometimes succeeds in receiving cash on top of the traded car even though the value of the cars are more than his plot of lands. He will drive the traded cars for bragging his potential customers’ before re trading them.  Ebrima has been known for only receiving cash from people and never pay his employees and debts.

               (Reba) and Brutal Capitalism

Ebrima is known for not paying his workers and people he do business with, One Tijan Jallow has complained about supplying Basalt stone to him and after one year he still owe him some balance, a guy that build borehole for him complain that he still owe him 10,000 dalasis after 9 months of completing the job for him. The only language Ebrima knows is receiving money and not paying his dues.

                               Connections

He has managed to secure nexus with different law enforcement agents some of whom are high rankers, he also partnered with his lawyer Abdoulie Sissoho who share the same moral values as him. Abdoulie Sissoho said at ADRS on January of 2009 that the Gambian Judiciary is non functional and that suing someone is a waste of time, the bad thing about this is that Abdoulie Sissoho is working under the judiciary system.  Abdoulie Sissoho went to the extend of advising Ebrima Jaiteh to lie and falsely accused a person of threatening him with violence when that person filed a lawsuit against his client; Ebrima Jaiteh. The dangerous thing about this is that the likes of Ebrima Jaiteh and Abdoulie Sissoho with a small connection with law enforcement agents are handed power to order for an arrest of anyone they deem fit without probable cause. He was seen chatting with Yankuba Touray the former minister of local government and lands minutes before the above photo was taken at Bijilo just next to the Elton, on another land that was acquired through the tourism development project.

                        Problem to society

The high cost of land will force low income earners in the Gambia not to have the ability to own a house, it will make it impossible for civil servants, normal income earners to have access to home ownership, average wages in the Gambia is 3000 dalais per month, it will take them 7 years of saving 100% of their entire income just to buy a plot of land, and about 28 years to build a 1 million dalasi house, no wonder why there are lots of undeveloped land and partly build houses in the Gambia because the math is very simple. In simple economics the market determine supply and demand, but the problem of land in Africa today is lack of regulation, the supply of land way succeeds its demand but for some reason it is unaffordable to most people, somehow there is a false concept of the value of land which cannot be explain by simple economics.

                           Suggested Solution

It shouldn’t take more than six months to register and issue each and every land in the Gambia a plot number, empower only one agency for the transfer of land ownership. Currently in the Gambia an alkalo sitting under a tree with a rubber stamp can authorize a transfer of land without keeping any record of the transaction, these practices lead to lots of multiple sale of the same plot of land. Seize lands that were obtain under false application (farm & Tourist development lands) and make them available to owner occupy individuals: (first time homeowners) and make it a requirement not to resell for a period of time, after all locals also wants to live by the beach not only tourists.