By Yero S. Bah
The Ministry of Lands and Regional Government, in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), held a one-day workshop to validate the Legislative Gaps Assessment.
It is supported by FAO through the UN Peace building Fund supported project titled, “Addressing Conflict Over Land and Natural Resources in The Gambia.”
This project seeks to strengthen the government’s efforts in formulating legal frameworks for land and natural resources (LNR) and its frequently related conflict resolution, and governance so as to enhance mechanisms for conflict prevention in communities where LNR conflict-related violence has already occurred; and also support actions for peace building.
Gaps Assessment was carried out to review existing legislations and policy documents on instruments relevant to the area of Lands and Natural Resource management in the country.
In his opening remarks, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Local Government and Lands, Mr. Buba Sanyang, informed that the purpose of the validation workshop was to address major challenges in governance of land tenure, forestry and other natural resources governance in the Gambia which include inadequate laws governing land and natural resources and poor enforcement of existing legal frameworks, different normative legal instruments such as common, sharia and customary laws as well as limitations of land administrative institutions.
According to him, the project further aims to strengthen the governance of land and other natural resources and its related conflict resolution mechanisms.
PS Sanyang reminded the validators about their Terms of Reference (ToR) as they were meant to collect all policy, legislative and legal frameworks in the area land governance, conduct critical analysis of the national policy and all the legislative frameworks, including the common law, sharia and customary laws of the land; to assess the legal and institutional setup for the resolution of dispute emanating from land and other natural resources. Also, to engage the stakeholders in this area, namely the Ministry of Lands, Ministry of Justice, Department of Lands and Surveys, Department of Physical Planning and all other relevant partners to identify gaps to match it with international standards and best practices regarding land tenure, forest and fisheries, geared towards the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women and children.
The Assistant FAO Representative and Head of Programs in the Gambia, Dr. Mustapha Ceesay, said the project was funded by the UN Peace Building Initiative as it supports conflict resolutions over land and natural resources to mitigate alarming crimes experienced, as people have different uses of natural resources. He pointed out that disagreements arises if interest and usage differ, and that conflicts over land are sharply rising around the world whilst emphasizing that the Gambia is not an exception in such crises.
Dr. Ceesay reported that, the UN has invested over 800 million dollars in this area globally, noting “conflict prevention is more cost effective, therefore it is worth investing in”.
The FAO senior official went further to say this project of the Gambia government is in line with the country’s NDP [National Development Plan] document and other international development targets like the Sustainable Development (Goals SDGs); and that warranted for the UN Peace building fund to finance the Gaps Assessment project of the Ministry of Local Governments and Lands.
“This is to foster the UN initiative of peace building and as well as the supporting of the national development agendas of the Gambia government,” he remarked.
Representing the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) community in the Gambia at the validation workshop, the Director of TANGO Mr. Ousman Yabo said as CSO network, they are the first beneficiaries of this policy document because Civil Society is directly dealing with grassroots challenges with affected communities on a daily basis. He encouraged validators to thoroughly scrutinize the document as he called for further in-depth community consultations on this land and natural resources policy paper.
Yarbo maintained the tabling such policy paper is timely, describing severity of land and natural resources issues as a time-bomb that needs to be addressed as soon as possible to avoid an all-out conflict over land in the country.
The facilitator of the validation exercise, Dr. Feyi Ogunade, believed the Gambia is leading in many human rights instruments compared to many other African nations, observing that Africans know the problem of land and natural resources but they failed to educate themselves about it to trigger constructive conversations around it.
As he dilated on the importance of the workshop, he called on participants to tediously go through the document in order to make the necessary adjustments on the document.
The report of the National Legal Constitution on the Assessment of the Adequacy of Legal and Policy Frameworks for Effective Land Tenure Governance and Dispute Resolution Mechanism in the Gambia was carried out by Shiekh Tijan Hydara as the international consultant for the project.
