The Gambia government has denied reports that it had agreed a land deal with the US Embassy for it to takeover Monkey Park, a protected nature area.

The land is a popular tourist destination known for its wildlife and endangered species including Western Red Colobus Monkey. 

Online media platform What’s On Gambia’ reported last week that the Minister of Lands, Regional Administration and Religious Affairs, Musa Drammeh had assigned a portion of the reserved land to the US Embassy. 

However the government said the report is “false and misleading”

“In fact, there is no evidence to corroborate their misleading story that Minister Drammeh has sent a letter to the Justice Ministry instructing that Monkey Park be reassigned to the US Embassy in Banjul.

“In actuality, Monkey Park is reserved land assigned to the Forestry Department of the Environment and Natural Resources Ministry and only they, can determine what to do or not do with that pristine land.

“The Gambia Government is fully conscious of the significance of Monkey Park as part of our natural heritage and will jealousy protect it for posterity. The disappearance of much of our wildlife and forests in the past two decades alone has significantly tilted our ecological balance and Government will never allow that to recur,” government spokesperson Ebrima G Sankareh said in a statement.

“Members of the public are therefore, urged to disregard What’s On Gambia’s baseless allegations orchestrated only to bring Hon Drammeh into disrepute. 

“The Gambia Government wishes to remind media practitioners that under our new democratic dispensation of openness and unrestricted freedoms, they are at liberty to investigate and verify information so as to avoid false news, which not only causes enduring pain and embarrassment to its victims but ominous professional damage to the journalists.”