Land disputes account for almost two-thirds of all cases before the courts in The Gambia, according to Lands Minister Hamat N.K. Bah, who said the government is moving to overhaul the country’s land administration system.

Mr Bah said land-related cases make up about 62% of court cases, putting significant pressure on the judiciary and consuming resources that could otherwise be used to deal with other legal matters.

Speaking on GRTS Radio, the Minister of Lands, Regional Government and Religious Affairs said the scale of the problem had prompted plans to establish a special court dedicated to land disputes at the High Court level.

“This should start soon; the retired chief justice already set up the committee for the court,” Mr Bah said.

The minister warned that land disputes could pose a serious threat to social stability if they are not properly managed.

He said pressure on land was particularly concerning in The Gambia, one of mainland Africa’s smallest countries, where population growth and increasing demand for property have intensified disputes over ownership and use.

Mr Bah said tackling land conflicts was one of his priorities when he took over the ministry.

One of the government’s major responses has been the development of a comprehensive national land policy, designed to introduce clearer rules for the management, allocation and use of land.

According to Mr Bah, the policy was developed with support from the World Bank and came into effect on 1 January 2026.
He described it as the first comprehensive national land policy introduced in The Gambia since independence.

But the government is also turning to technology in an attempt to tackle fraudulent transactions and conflicting claims.

A new Land Information System is being developed to create digital records of landholdings across the country.

The system is intended to make it easier to establish who owns a particular piece of land and reduce problems involving multiple allocations, competing ownership claims and fraudulent transactions.

“This will create a proper record of every land in the country; it will be digitalized,” Mr Bah said.

He said consultants supported by the World Bank were working on the system, with a draft expected by the end of September.

The government is also working to digitise existing land records and archives.

Mr Bah said another key part of the reforms would be expanding formal land titling, including for privately owned homes, to give property owners stronger documentary evidence of ownership.

A pilot land-titling programme has already started in the West Coast Region, which the minister identified as having the country’s highest concentration of land disputes.

The reforms are being introduced against a backdrop of longstanding concerns over the sale of the same property to multiple buyers, overlapping allocations, unclear documentation and allegations of powerful individuals using their influence to take control of disputed land.

Mr Bah said the government’s aim was to replace the fragmented land administration system with one based on reliable records, transparency and clearer ownership.

He argued that digital records and formal land titles would make it harder for people to deceive prospective buyers or unlawfully claim property belonging to others.

The proposed reforms could also reduce the number of land disputes reaching the courts by resolving ownership questions earlier in the process.

For the government, Mr Bah said, fixing weaknesses in land administration is about more than property management.

By Adama Makasuba