Residents of Serekunda intend to file a lawsuit against Supersonicz Financial Limited and the Sheriff Division of the Gambia High Court for allegedly engaging in an illegal sale of Gaddafi Mosque property. Following a High Court ruling in 2019 about a D1.6 million lawsuit brought by Supersonicz Financial Limited against former employee Demba Marena, the Sheriff Division sold a portion of the property. In contrast to what the Sheriff Division and Supersonicz thought, community elders led by Alieu Momar Njai assert that the land belonged to all residents of Serekunda.
The Gaddafi Mosque Committee’s secretary is Buba Senghore. After a community meeting, elders have sought legal advice to defend this issue in court, he told The Standard newspaper. Additionally, the organisation has written to the Chief Justice directly to request assistance. In their letter, they describe how the Sheriff Division caused significant issues for the locals by selling communal land associated with the Muammar Gaddafi Mosque, also called the Libyan Grand Mosque.
The letter explains how the land has time met a variety of public needs. With assistance from Libya through the World Islamic Call Society, it finally became the location of a mosque and school. Previously, it held farm fairs, served as a venue for holiday celebrations like Tobaski and Koriteh, and provided temporary lodging for those without homes. According to the community, the Sheriff Division acted based on inaccurate information regarding who truly owned the property that was provided by Supersonicz or Marena.
Any assertion that Marena had land rights is vehemently denied by the locals. They claim that he is neither the property’s owner nor its legal owner. He had no real rights there; he and his late brother Oustas Ansumana Marena were only there out of community generosity. In order to oppose the sale through the appropriate processes, they requested the Chief Justice’s assistance in determining if it was lawful.
The Sheriff just executes court orders, Chief Justice Hassan Jallow retorted. He suggested that the Serekunda elders seek assistance through the regular court system in order to provide the Sheriff other instructions if they disagreed with these acts. According to Njundu, a senior executive at Supersonicz, Marena was employed by the company and was implicated in a D1.6 million fraud case in 2009, which led to management suing him.
The court decided that Marena had to give Supersonicz the money back. According to the source, they don’t know how the Sheriff Division came to the conclusion that Marena was entitled to the contested land. He said Marena resided there with an older sibling who might have been the principal of the school or the imam. According to the Supersonicz spokesman, the Sheriff Division and the court handled the land’s sale, and their company had no say in the matter. Supersonicz was compensated for the money owed to them following the transaction.
