By: Sulayman Waan
Residents of Babylon village have responded to Alhagie Momodou Bojang, the chief of Kombo North District for saying that the government has recognized neither Babylon as village nor Lamin Jarju as the village head.
Alhaji Momodou Bojang, the Head Chief of Kombo North District has told The Voice that the government of The Gambia has not recognized Babylon as a village or Lamin Jarjue as the village head.
He described the self-proclaimed Alkalo of Babylon’s actions as impersonation that can be tantamount to obtaining money by false pretense, Conspiracy, Willful damage to properties and Trespass.
According to him, Lamin Jarjue committed these crimes mentioned above along-side with his team and he added that how someone whose parents never settled in Kombo can claim the ownership in a foreign land.
Bojang explained that Lamin Jarjue has in his custody false documents which he paraded with before pressmen in his recent press briefing with journalists at Babylon as an indigenous.
“Even at the office of the former Governor of West Coast Region, under Musa Amul Nyassi issued press released stating that “the Government of The Gambia did not recognize Babylon as a village” neither recognized Lamin Jarjue as the village head”, Chief Bojang stated.
However, Landing Jadama, a resident of Babylon village challenged chief Bojang’ statement regarding the legality of the settlement, he described the statement as bogus saying the law has recognized their vicinity as a village.
“This settlement was part of Kombo North District since 1915. There is a gazette made by the Government and no person can challenge its authentication. When the gazette was prepared there was a population of 14 people in the village and now we have over 4,000 thousand compounds with 16,000 thousand inhabitants,” he said.
He then added that: “The chief made the pronouncement but he doesn’t have a legal document to back it up but for us, we [the residents] have evidence and we are acting according to the law. We disagreed with his statement.”
However, he said last year the residents of Babylon gave Chief Bojang D146, 000 as part of their tax for him to pay to Brikama Area Council. He said that; “why the traditional ruler did collected their tax if he knew that Babylon is not recognize as a village.
Mr. Jadama said the resident has a letter of administration from the creation of interstate through the High Court that indicates the entire history of the village, adding that Chief Bojang has accused them of not having legal document as he has not made research about the settlement.
“If he wants to challenge the legitimacy of the village, let him go to the courts and stop speaking to the media about the village. He shouldn’t say that Babylon is not recognised or will be a suburb of other villages. He doesn’t have the mandate to say so,” he stressed.
Momodou L Sanyang, also a resident told this medium that for Chief Bojang to know about the village, he should have investigated about the settlement. He then added that “If he [Chief Bojang] wants to know whether our documents are authenticated or not, let him go to the High Court and find out. If he doesn’t trust the gazette, let him find out at the Museum.”
He noted that the village was established by their forefathers and toting up that they have all the documents about the settlement. ”The traditional leader should have put mechanisms to address the matter without speaking to the media concerning Babylon,” he stated.
“I think the chief has gone beyond speculation because he cannot defend himself for saying that the village’s gazettes are false. If he wants to know the authentication of the document let him investigate it at the High Court,” he argued.
