Lands Commission needed! Lands Commission needed! Lands Commission needed! When will it be constituted? 
 
As demolitions escalate and land disputes grow Foroyaa is compelled again to draw the attention of the government and the people to the importance of constituting the Lands Commission.
 
The issue of establishing a Lands Commission was considered by the drafters of the 1997 Constitution because of the numerous complaints of land disputes and poor planning in the use of state land. This led to land provided for public toilets, fields for sports and recreation and others for social amenities being sold to enrich individuals. What is disheartening today is that people would struggle to earn money and proceed to buy land only to be told after all papers have been processed that they have not acquired it legally. In many cases they do conduct enquiries, get signatures form village heads, pay rates to councils and acquire receipts which convey the symbols of legality. The drafters of the Constitution knew that as long as everything is left to political figures transparency and accountability in the allocation of land would be unachievable.
 
This is why Section 192 of the Constitution provided for the establishment of a Lands Commission. Interestingly enough it took ten years before an Act was enacted to provide for the composition and powers of the Commission. The Lands Commission Act which came into being in 2007 calls for the establishment of a Land Commission comprising a Chairperson who shall be a judge of a Superior court and four persons of distinguished service and integrity with adequate knowledge and experience in administration in the Gambia and the Director of Lands and Surveys. Just imagine if Moses Richards was appointed to serve as Chairman, what could have been achieved by now? This Commission is to advise the Minister on policy matters relating to land administration to ensure strict adherence to those policies and transparency in land allocation and investigate disputes on land ownership and occupation in any area. Hence no demolition would have taken place without the
 Commission giving a fair hearing to aggrieved parties. The Commission is to monitor the registration of properties and inspect land registers and records. This should have given property buyers avenues to know the status of the properties they are offered to buy and thus prevent fraud.
 
Almost three years have elapsed since the enactment of the Act but a Commission has still not been constituted. This shows that the Government is not committed to the establishment of Independent and Impartial oversight institutions to manage key sectors of National life where they have the competitive edge in the delivery of social justice. We hope they will try to prove us wrong by establishing the Lands Commission with immediacy. 





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