{"id":76858,"date":"2025-04-06T18:30:25","date_gmt":"2025-04-06T18:30:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/salagi-residents-decry-sudden-demolition-of-homes"},"modified":"2025-04-06T18:30:25","modified_gmt":"2025-04-06T18:30:25","slug":"salagi-residents-decry-sudden-demolition-of-homes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/salagi-residents-decry-sudden-demolition-of-homes","title":{"rendered":"Salagi Residents Decry Sudden Demolition of Homes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. <\/strong><\/span><b>Residents of Salagi have voiced their deep frustration and heartbreak following the sudden demolition of their homes and compounds by government authorities.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Many of the affected residents claim the exercise was carried out without adequate consultation or due process, leaving them devastated and displaced. According to them, they had followed all necessary legal procedures prior to construction, including obtaining approvals from the Department of Physical Planning, the Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA), and the Ministry of Justice.<\/p>\n<p>Eyewitnesses said the demolition team was accompanied by armed soldiers and arrived without notice, immediately beginning to tear down structures.<\/p>\n<p>Bakary Manjang, whose brother\u2019s house was among those demolished, said they had done everything by the book.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe obtained all the necessary documents and received approval from Physical Planning. Now, they\u2019re telling us a different story,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>He explained that their construction had been ongoing for over five years and had reached an advanced stage. His brother had even purchased materials for continued work.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen suddenly, while I was at work during Ramadan, my brother called to tell me the house had been demolished. I was devastated. It felt like watching your hard-earned money go up in flames. The same people who gave us permission to build are now saying we weren\u2019t supposed to build there,\u201d he lamented.<\/p>\n<p>Manjang criticized the lack of communication from the authorities, stating, \u201cWhat should have been done first\u2014engaging with us\u2014was done last. Before touching someone\u2019s property, at the very least, talk to them. We\u2019re all human beings. We would have listened.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Another affected resident, Oumie Suwaneh, recounted a similar experience. She said that on March 25, while she was at the market, her younger sister informed her that four armed soldiers and two civilians had visited their compound with a demolition notice.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen on Friday, I went to the market again and received a call that they had come to demolish our fence. My sister told them we weren\u2019t home, but they went ahead and destroyed it anyway. They even damaged our tap and water meter\u2014now we struggle just to get water,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Suwaneh said her husband purchased the land over five years ago, and no one\u2014government or otherwise\u2014had ever contested their ownership.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter spending thousands of Dalasi, waking up one day to see everything gone is truly painful,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p>Amadou Darboe, another victim, expressed deep disappointment over the handling of the demolitions. He explained that the notice was not personally handed to him but to his nephews, and initially, the document lacked a name or signature.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe official later filled in my name and signed the notice right in front of my house,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Darboe noted that the notice was delivered on March 25, 2024, but the demolition occurred just three days later, on March 28, despite the demolition vehicles stating action would begin on April 1.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEven if you have the authority, there\u2019s a proper way to exercise it. No one would build a home without legal rights or inheritance,\u201d he stressed.<\/p>\n<p>He called for greater transparency and fairness in such actions, emphasizing that all citizens deserve equal treatment under the law.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe government should create a fair system that protects everyone, not use power to destroy people\u2019s homes without consultation or dialogue,\u201d Darboe said.<\/p>\n<p>He urged authorities to act swiftly and justly, pointing out that many families have lost millions of Dalasi in property and investments.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know how much I personally invested. Watching it destroyed like that was heartbreaking,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Gambia<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. Residents of Salagi have voiced their deep frustration and heartbreak following the sudden demolition of their homes and compounds by government authorities. Many of the affected residents claim the exercise was carried out without adequate consultation or due process, leaving them devastated and displaced. According to them, they had followed all necessary [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":76857,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,12],"tags":[260],"class_list":["post-76858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","category-policy","tag-gambia"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Salagi Residents Decry Sudden Demolition of Homes - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/salagi-residents-decry-sudden-demolition-of-homes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Salagi Residents Decry Sudden Demolition of Homes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. Residents of Salagi have voiced their deep frustration and heartbreak following the sudden demolition of their homes and compounds by government authorities. Many of the affected residents claim the exercise was carried out without adequate consultation or due process, leaving them devastated and displaced. According to them, they had followed all necessary [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/salagi-residents-decry-sudden-demolition-of-homes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-04-06T18:30:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/salagi-residents-decry-sudden-demolition-of-homes#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/salagi-residents-decry-sudden-demolition-of-homes\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Salagi Residents Decry Sudden Demolition of Homes\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-06T18:30:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/salagi-residents-decry-sudden-demolition-of-homes\"},\"wordCount\":608,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/salagi-residents-decry-sudden-demolition-of-homes#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/04\/sm_1743954345.527581.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Gambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/salagi-residents-decry-sudden-demolition-of-homes#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/salagi-residents-decry-sudden-demolition-of-homes\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/salagi-residents-decry-sudden-demolition-of-homes\",\"name\":\"Salagi Residents Decry Sudden Demolition of Homes - 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