Comprehensive Land Reform Laws
Gambian land for Gambians. Today and for generations to come.
Land is the most fundamental asset in any country, and in The Gambia it is under threat. In recent years, land ownership has become increasingly vulnerable to abuse, corruption, and exploitation by unregulated developers, government insiders, and foreign actors operating through opaque arrangements that Gambian communities cannot challenge and Gambian law cannot adequately address. Community lands have been converted to private title through processes that excluded the communities whose customary rights over those lands were well established. Productive farmland near urban centres is under constant development pressure, and once it is built over, it is gone. Widows lose access to land on the death of their husbands. Daughters do not inherit on equal terms with sons. The National Digital Land Registry does not exist, making fraud and double-selling structurally easy. The result is a growing population of Gambians who are becoming strangers on their own land. The National Builders Party will end this. Gambian land belongs to the Gambian people. The reform will ensure it stays that way.
A Gambia where every Gambian who holds a legitimate right to land has that right documented, registered, and legally protected. Where the National Digital Land Registry contains an accurate record of every parcel of land in the country, its boundaries, its ownership or tenure rights, and its permitted use. Where a widow cannot be evicted from her home because her husband's name was on the title. Where a farmer's land cannot be grabbed by a developer who knows how to navigate the Lands Office. Where foreign investment in land is permitted under clear rules, with defined lease terms, genuine development conditions, and government oversight. Where agricultural land is protected because the nation understands that food security is a dimension of national sovereignty. Gambian land for Gambians. Today and for generations to come.
The NBP will enact a Comprehensive Land Reform Act consolidating the fragmented legal framework governing land in The Gambia into a single, coherent statute that closes every gap that exploitation currently uses.
The Act will recognise three categories of land rights: freehold ownership available to Gambian citizens only; leasehold arrangements available to Gambians and foreign investors under defined conditions with clear expiration periods and government oversight; and registered customary tenure providing legal recognition to customary land rights without requiring conversion to freehold. All prior land legislation inconsistent with the Act will be repealed and replaced. Clear and transparent processes for land allocation, title transfer, lease issuance, and compulsory acquisition will be defined, with publication requirements ensuring these processes are visible to the public. Penalties for land fraud, unauthorised allocation, double-selling, and misrepresentation of boundaries will be substantially increased and applied to both perpetrating parties and the public officials who facilitate such transactions.
The NBP will establish the National Lands Commission as the central institution governing all aspects of land administration in The Gambia, ending the fragmentation across multiple agencies that has enabled decades of exploitation.
Currently, land governance responsibilities are fragmented across the Ministry of Lands, the Lands Commission, local government councils, and customary authorities without the coordination and consistent oversight that effective land governance requires. The National Lands Commission will consolidate these responsibilities under a single institution with a clear mandate, professional leadership, and full legal authority. A National Land Oversight Board will review and approve all land transfers and leases at the community level, with mandatory referral for high-value or foreign-involved transactions. Land Audit and Reclamation Taskforce, working alongside the Anti-Corruption Commission, will review and investigate unexplained or suspicious land acquisitions and recommend reclamation of land improperly sold or acquired without due process.
The NBP will build a Central Digital Land Registry under the Ministry of Local Government and Lands, digitising all existing land records and making fraud and double-selling structurally impossible.
All existing land records, leases, community allocations, and title deeds will be digitised and consolidated into the National Digital Land Registry. A geo-mapped National Land Ownership Database, accessible by all government agencies and local councils, will show the boundaries and ownership status of every parcel in the country. Biometric land ownership IDs will be issued to validated landowners, linking their identity to their documented title. The registry will be integrated with national security and anti-corruption agency databases to detect illicit transactions in real time. Customs-tax integration will ensure all property transaction data flows automatically to the GRA for capital gains assessment. Paper-based land records, which are the primary vehicle for fraud, will be fully replaced by Year 3.
The NBP will enshrine in law the principle that freehold title to Gambian land belongs to Gambians, with foreign access to land permitted only under strictly regulated leasehold arrangements with investment conditions and defined expiry.
Only Gambian citizens and residents with legal status may own freehold title to land designated as residential, agricultural, or community land. Foreign individuals or companies may lease land only under strict investment-related conditions with clear expiration periods and government oversight. All sales of community lands, government reserves, or ecologically sensitive lands without official approval and economic justification will be deemed illegal and punishable by law. Public interest must be at the centre of all land transfers. Foreign ownership of agricultural land, coastal property, or strategic real estate will require special government authorisation, modelled on EU member state frameworks and adapted for the Gambian context. No developer, foreign or domestic, may acquire land in a manner that displaces communities or circumvents customary tenure protections.
The NBP will declare all land currently used for productive crop farming as protected zones and establish agricultural green belts around rural towns, because food security is a dimension of national sovereignty.
All farmlands currently being used for crop production will be classified as protected zones that cannot be converted to private development without formal reclassification through the Ministry of Agriculture and a demonstrated public interest justification. The Gambia is a small country with limited agricultural land. Once it is built over, it is gone. The Gambia government will designate and protect agricultural green belts around rural towns and settlements. The sale of any land within protected agricultural or forest zones will be strictly prohibited unless for purposes that enhance national food security or reforestation. Environmental impact assessments will be mandatory for any proposed reclassification of protected agricultural land, with public consultation required before any decision is made.
The NBP will address the systematic exclusion of women from land rights and inheritance that currently wastes the economic potential of half the Gambian population and leaves widows and daughters without the security they are entitled to.
The Comprehensive Land Reform Act will establish legal protections for widows' rights of continued occupancy and inheritance on the death of a spouse. Equal inheritance rights for daughters will be enshrined in law. Customary tenure registration will explicitly recognise and protect women's individual land use rights within communal systems. Free or subsidised legal support will be provided to women navigating land disputes, documentation challenges, and inheritance claims, ensuring that the gap between legal right and practical access is closed by the availability of support, not just by the existence of a law. A gender land rights baseline assessment in Year 1 will measure the current state of women's land ownership and inheritance, with five-year progress review tracking improvement.
The NBP will create land access programmes giving young Gambians, especially women and youth, the ability to access land for agriculture, housing, and entrepreneurship so that land empowers rather than excludes the next generation.
A National Youth Land Access Programme will provide structured pathways for young Gambians aged 18 to 35 to access land for productive use, including agricultural plots, small business premises, and first-home sites. Affordable lease-to-own land programmes for first-time Gambian homeowners and farmers will allow young families to build tenure security over time without requiring upfront purchase capital they do not have. Communal land trusts, where communities collectively manage land while securing individual use rights, will be legally recognised and supported as a model that protects community land from fragmentation while enabling individual economic participation. Priority land access will be given to returnees from the backway and participants in the National Youth Service Programme who demonstrate commitment to building at home.
The National Builders Party will launch a National Land Education Campaign to ensure that every Gambian understands their rights and obligations regarding land, because a law that people do not know about cannot protect them.
The campaign will broadcast public awareness programmes in all major Gambian national languages on radio and television. Community workshops and town hall meetings on land laws will be held in every district. Simplified versions of the Land Reform Act will be published and distributed in plain language accessible to Gambians without legal training. Land governance education will be introduced in schools and higher education institutions. Free or subsidised legal support will be available to rural Gambians navigating land disputes, documentation, and inheritance claims. Alkalos, Sayfos, and local councils will receive legal training and technological support to carry out their land governance responsibilities transparently and in alignment with national law. The NBP strongly believes that educating the population will reduce land disputes, prevent fraud, and foster civic responsibility around the land every Gambian has a right to protect.
For Every Gambian Landowner
Your land will be registered in a national digital system that makes your title real and defensible. No developer can produce a piece of paper that overrides a properly registered title. No official can facilitate a fraudulent transfer of land that is biometrically linked to your identity. Your right to your land will be documented, protected, and legally enforceable in a way that paper-based records could never guarantee.
For Women and Young Gambians
A widow will not lose her home because her husband's name was on the title. A daughter will not be excluded from her family's land. A young Gambian who wants to farm will have a structured pathway to land access that does not require having the right connections. The land reform is not just about protecting what exists. It is about extending access to those who have historically been left out of the system.
For Every Family
Land disputes are among the most common and most destructive conflicts in Gambian community life. A digital registry that makes ownership transparent, a Land Audit and Reclamation Taskforce that pursues those who defraud, and free legal support for families navigating disputes will reduce the incidence and the cost of these conflicts significantly. Protected farmland means food security for the nation. The Gambia is not for sale. Under the National Builders Party, the law will mean it.
The New National Standard in land governance is that every Gambian who holds a legitimate right to land can prove it, protect it, and pass it on. No widow loses her home because her name was not on a title deed. No farmer loses land that has been in their family for generations because someone with access to the Lands Office produced a piece of paper. No community loses its communal land to a developer because the community's customary rights were never formally registered. No young Gambian is priced out of every square metre of their country. Gambian land belongs to the Gambian people. The National Builders Party will build the registry, the laws, the institutions, and the protections that make that statement a practical reality rather than a campaign phrase. This land is ours. The reform will ensure it stays ours.
Protecting our land is the foundation of protecting our national identity, securing our economy, and building a sovereign and self-reliant future for The Gambia. Under the National Builders Party, The Gambia will never be for sale.
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