Culled from The Daily Observer Published Tuesday, 16 May, 2000
TAF ORDERED TO STOP WORK AT SINCHU YAHI
The newly appointed director of Lands and Survey, RAF Thomas,
has written to the proprietor of Taf Holding Company, Mustapha
Njie, instructing him to immediately stop works on the 'Sinchu
Yahi' project site.
The decision came amidst speculations that Mr Njie had bribed the
then secretary of state, Lamin Bajo, and some other local
government authorities to enable him (Mr Njie) to acquire the said
reserved land.
The buffer, which has been described as "prime land", reserved for
a hospital and recreational centre, situated between the
Independence Stadium and the Kanifing Housing Estate, was
allocated to Taf Holding Company, who, bankrolled by Shelter
Afrique, demarcated the site into plots of land, which are being
developed and sold to people under the scheme "Operation House
the Nation".
Soon after the allocation in March, the area was named "Sinchu
Yahi". 'Yahi' (bones in Wollof) is the childhood nickname of Mr
Njie, an apparent reference to his skinny nature.
The 'Sinchu Yahi' project has since been marred by controversy,
with some people questioning the modality for the allocation of the
land, while others queried the price of the plots.
The price for an ordinary three bedroom self-contained house is
D350,000 and above while a de luxe three bedroom self-contained
costs D700,000 upwards.
Sources have alleged that the sacked secretary of state for Local
Government and Lands, Lamin Bajo, and some officials at the
department, were bribed for a reported sum of three million dalasis.
According to sources, a certain community in Bakau had protested
the allocation of the land, which they reportedly claimed was taken
from them by the former government and declared a state reserved
land. Sources claimed that after the Bakau people raised the
clamour, Mr Njie allegedly compensated them with D350,000
through the alkalo of Bakau.
When contacted, Mustapha Njie confirmed receiving a letter on
Friday from the director of Lands and Survey, instructing him to
stop work on the Sinchu Yahi project, and that work has since
stopped. He said, "I am now listening to them. But I hope
everything would be resolved through dialogue."
Asked if he had got all the necessary documents for the land
allocation before embarking on the project, he said he was
allocated the land on March 15, 2000, through a letter from the
director of Lands and Survey at the time.
On whether it was true that he had compensated a certain
community in Bakau for the said land, Mr Njie replied, "You know,
in every such land allocation, there are agreements. We have
fulfiled all the requirements of the agreement but I don't want to give
details."
When asked whether it was true that he had bribed the sacked
Local Government and Lands secretary and other officials to
influence the allocation of the land, Mr Njie said, "I would reserve
my comments on that."
For his part, the alkalo of Bakau, Luntang Jaiteh, has categorically
denied receiving any money from Taf for a community in Bakau as
compensation for the land. "No butut was paid to me. I am not
even aware that was allocated to Taf. I just saw the signboards,"
he told me over the phone last evening.
Mr Jaiteh explained that "all land within the Greater Banjul Area
was, since the PPP days, declared state-owned land. So, all the
land in this area is administered by the state. There is nothing like
customary land in the Kombo St Mary's area."
When contacted, the director of Lands and Survey , RAF Thomas,
who was recently redeployed to the post after his contract as
director of Physical Planning and Housing expired, declined to
comment. "I will not confirm or deny anything. And you know
under the General Orders, civil servants are not supposed to talk to
the press," he said.
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