Mrs Joh,
Why do you resent the question I asked of where you were born? There is nothing sinister in it,
just a simple straight forward question. I asked it merely because I had a chance to speak
to my dad, and he reassured me that, anyone from a farming community understands what land
ownership is all about? If I had wanted to ask you otherwise, rest assured I shall ask you it in simple
and straightforward manner.
I learnt that you were born in Janjangburreh, but is it not also true that in fact your dad actually
originated
from Senegal. If you were to make enquiries am sure you will realize that his clan/family too owned l
and. ( I am a cousin to your nieces and nephews, so you see we are all one big family here).
If your argument that land should belong to everyone is to be taken seriously by me, then I ask
this: why do do we have countries? Why cannot we move freely from one place to the other?
That is a principle which would be great but we live in the real world, and as such people have
claims to things, yes, even land. I am not at all ashamed of fighting for my cousins' rights to house
their families, I will not apologize for it either.
"However, i also want to say that in our fight for justice, let us not be
selective. If we seek justice, we must be prepared to seek it in every
aspect pf Gambian life. It has become too easy for folks to just try to use
the word tribalism as a scare tactic to shut others up because they think
that everyone will consider it politically incorrect and run and hide."
The justice to be fought here is quite simple really. Land has been divided up among young men
so as build houses for their young families. Due to Brufut's proximity to the Tourist Development
Area, some selfish businessman thinks that actually he needs the land more than they do, even
though he and his family are comfortably housed somewhere else. He needs the land to build houses
to sell at a Dmill or more. So now you tell me, where is this justice you are talking about?
Lets for instance forget about this Traditional land ownership, do you think it fair and even humane for
one man's eagerness to make himself even richer override the need of some poor villagers to house themselves
and their families? If there is a need for concerted effort for justice then nothing deserves
it more than this. Today, the 6th July 2001, could become a very sad day for us, as today is the day that
the military will go ahead and demolish the simple mud houses some of them have scraped for to build.
Why, because their rights to housing is not as important as Taf's eagerness to make more millions.
So please remember in them your prayers today, for I know they are not going to stand helplessly and
see their houses razed to the ground. Where is the justice, you tell me people of the L!!
I think the tribalistic tendencies should be much more appropriately taken up with Mr Nyang.
I cannot speak for any other family with regards to Traditional Land Ownership, but I can speak for
mine. We came to own our land because our forebears broke their backs to cut down the forests
and turned it into farmlands centuries ago. If some other clan was busy doing something else and as
such their families down the line do not have land to farm or live on, then I suggest they go back in
time and sort it out with their forebears.
"We have to be careful about being very
eager to address only those wrongs that are not to our advantage and try to
ignore, cover up or pass over those that directly involve our personal or
family, or group interests. One cannot afford to seem to give the imptession
of being cunning at the expense of other people."
I am not trying to address this issue because it affects my family, I was sick to my guts because
the greed of a single man and his readiness to rob people of that most fundamental of human
rights, a place to live in. No one is trying to be cunning here, not from my side I can assure you.
You live in the USA, have you ever asked the Indians why they always argue that they own the land?
Am sure there are a lot of people who are Americans by birth too, does it mean that they can build
and farm anywhere they like. It so is not the case here in the UK. There still are traditional land
owners here (or as they call them land lords. They lease out their land to farmers)
" Am I to believe that my Gambian brothers and sisters whose klans, groups, etc
can lay claim to land and other groups are not entitled to the same
priviledge actually consider that just? If we are all Gambians, then I think
we need to revisit this land issue and make sure we put a fair system in
place where every Gambian can acquire land in a uniform manner. I cannot see
myself as comrades to people who say they abhor injustice and are fighting
for justice with me, but who at the same time conveniently chuck this land
issueto tribalism when it is very clear that definitley not all Gambians have
equal rights when it comes to this issue."
Mrs Joh, we are very fair in the way we allocate land to people. We gave a whole village
to Ghanaians(Ghan Town), there are countless Senegalese, Guineans (mostly Fulas, a village
call Pa Tubey ya), Manjagoes (Yuna village), Malians and even Europeans who my family has
given land to, and all it cost them them was the price of a kilo or so of kola nuts. There is a village
call Madiana, on the outskirts of Brufut, my family gave it to Jolas for free.
So if one man wants to take countless hectares of our land in his eagerness to enrich himself even more,
I think that is what what should make any fair minded person's blood boil
"I am no tribalist, but I think that this land affair is something that
definitely needs to be looked at. It just does not make sense to me that some
Gambians can have claim to certain lands when this is not evenly applied as
far as every group in Gambia is concerned.
Am I to believe that my Gambian brothers and sisters whose klans, groups, etc
can lay claim to land and other groups are not entield to the same
priviledge actually consider that just? If we are all Gambians, then I think
we need to revisit this land issue and make sure we put a fair system in
place where every Gambian can acquire land in a uniform manner. I cannot see
myself as comrades to people who say they abhor injustice and are fighting
for justice with me, but who at the same time conveniently chuck this land
issueto tribalism when it is very clear that definitley not all Gambians have
equal rights when it comes to this issue."
Mrs Joh, I tell you something which am sure is deluding you here, there was no such place as The
Gambia when we owned these lands. So how can it belong to all Gambians? Even the white Europeans/colonialist
recognized traditional land ownership, for after all when they wanted to settle in
the then Bathurst, they bought it form the King of Niumi( or Kombo).
There were tiny kingdoms, like the Kombo, Niumi, Badibu kingdoms etc, and within these kingdoms
we had clans. So if you are taking to task the traditional way of land ownership, then maybe you should
travel back in time and change the way Africans had always lived their lives. Lord people could be born in
the UK, but they still do not have right to land. Land was and is still owned by traditional owners here.
There is a plague at my former university saying how the land it stands on was donated in 1862 by
Lord Henry Robinson Hartley whose family has since time immemorial owned that part of Southampton.
Have a good day
Manneh
Jabou Joh wrote:
> In a message dated 7/5/2001 3:02:25 PM Central Daylight Time, [log in to unmask]
> writes:
>
> << Good evening,
> Is it OK if I may ask where the people asking about Traditional Land
> Ownership
> originate from (town or village in The Gambia). I shall then do my best to
> answer your PERTINENT questions.
> I ask this, for I think where one comes from is fundamental in grasping the
> emotions behind Land Ownership.
>
> Good evening
> Manneh >>
>
> Manneh,
>
> I was born in Jangjangbureh, as were the rest of my family, except one, and
> when I was 9, my family moved to Gunjur.
> I want to thank Dr Jeng and Malanding for their explanations.
> However, i also want to say that in our fight for justice, let us not be
> selective. If we seek justice, we must be prepared to seeek it in every
> aspect pf Gambian life. It has become too easy for folks to just try to use
> the word tribalism as a scare tactic to shut others up because they think
> that everyone will consider it politically incorrect and run and hide.
> If there are certain groups in The Gambia who claim certain lands, and others
> have no such claim, then something is very unfair and wrong here, and I hope
> I am not the only one who sees that. We have to be careful about being very
> eager to address only those wrongs that are not to our advantage and try to
> ignore, cover up or pass over those that directly involve our personal or
> family, or group interests. One cannot afford to seem to give the imptession
> of being cunning at the expense of other people.
> If we are all Gambian by birth, then we are all entitled to have claim to the
> land, not because we have used it longer, but because we were born in Gambia,
> period. If the latter was the norm throughout the World, the Native Americans
> could step forward and regain their land. In this regard, I resent the
> question of where one is from that was asked by Mr Manneh. What is that
> leading to? It angers me the same way that people anger me when they atart
> talking about people's parents not being from Gambia, and therefore they are
> not Gambians. One is the citizen of a country because one is born in that
> country.
> I am no tribalist, but I think that this land affair is something that
> definitely needs to be looked at. It just does not make sense to me that some
> Gambians can have claim to certain lands when this is not evenly applied as
> far as every group in Gambia is concerned.
> Am I to believe that my Gambian brothers and sisters whose klans, groups, etc
> can lay claim to land and other groups are not entield to the same
> priviledge actually consider that just? If we are all Gambians, then I think
> we need to revisit this land issue and make sure we put a fair system in
> place where every Gambian can acquire land in a uniform manner. I cannot see
> myself as comrades to people who say they abhor injustice and are fighting
> for justice with me, but who at the same time conveniently chuck this land
> issueto tribalism when it is very clear that definitley not all Gambians have
> equal rights when it comes to this issue.
> These are some of the issues that cannot be swept under the rug people. Let
> us debate them and formulate solutions instead of focussing on some of the
> problems while trying to step over the others that are bound ot be
> problematic later.
>
> Jabou Joh
>
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