Some disgruntled members of the village of Mandinaring, recently, converged at the compound of the village head [Alkalo], expressing concern over what they described as the continuous violation of their rights to their lands by inhabitants of the village of Kunkujang Jattaya in Kombo North District, Western Region.

The controversy popped up following an alleged infiltration into a cultivated plot of land purportedly owned by the people of Mandinaring. The alleged invaders came from neigbouring village and also claim ownership of the same piece of land.

The people of Mandinaring had claimed that the said land had been sold to them by the Alikalo of Kunkujang Jattaya, which prompted a bitter row. The matter was later forwarded to the Yundum Police Station.

To this effect, the villagers also decided to summon an emergency meeting at the residence of the village head. At the end of the said meeting, they agreed to uphold and maintain law and order as the matter was already with the Department of Physical Planning and Housing.

Narrating their story to the Daily Observer, Fah Ceesay, the Alikalo of Mandinaring Village, said tension had ensued between the two villages in 2007, but revealed that it was cooled down by the intervention of personnel from the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), who referred the matter to the Department of Physical Planning and Housing. The people of Mandinaring, however, stressed that they were ready to counter any possible aggression by their opponents maturely.

Ceesay recalled the cordial relationship that had existed between the two settlements during the era of the late Alkalo of Kunkujang Jattaya, Liphino Jatta. He narrated that the Jatta family had in fact arrived in Mandinaring in the late 70s and were provided shelter. But he said that because of their herds of cattle, they were allocated their own farm lands called Jehbang Kunko. This peaceful relationship, he went on, faltered after the death of the late Alikalo of Kunkujang.

To back up his point, Mr Ceesay produced copies of letters reportedly written to them by the Department of Physical Planning and Housing, which acknowledges the existence of the dispute between the two settlements.

The letters advised both Alkalolu to refrain from allocating or processing any documents on the disputed area.

The same letters further warned that any allocation done within the disputed area would be declared “null and void”. They indicated that there was “persistent violation” of the above mentioned advice principally by the Alikalo of Kunkujang Jattaya who, they said, had been defying the advice of the department by allocating land within the disputed area.  

The people of Mandinaring, though, do not feel at ease with the current situation. They told this paper that they did not intend to have a repeat of the Babylon incident, but that something needs to be done to address the matter without delay, to avoid further tension.
The response of the people of the rival village was swift. Mr Landing Jatta, the man who now occupies his late father’s seat as Alkalo of Kunkujang Jattaya, agreed with the assertion by the Alkalo of Mandinaring that his late father was initially accommodated by the Jehbang Kabilo of Mandinaring. But he said that the first problem arose when his late father was asked by the people of Mandinaring to vacate their land and return ownership to them.

This, he said, his late father had refused to do, and it had warranted them to resort to the district tribunal, involving three chiefs: the late Jerreba Bojang of Brikama Central; the late Bakary Sanyang of Kombo East District and Nfansu Bojang of Kombo North District.

He claimed that the ruling of that tribunal favoured his late father. He said that they have recently been receiving cautionary claims of ownership of the land from the same people, which forced them to report the matter to the authorities at the Department of Physical Planning.

Until now, he said, nothing had been done to resolve the growing tension. He assured the Daily Observer that “if the law takes its course to solve the problem by mapping out and identifying border solutions between the two villages, I will hold no objection”.