“Naming monuments after them and giving a national funeral to Solo have symbolic value but legislating good electoral laws and more importantly by demonstrable conduct manifesting the core principles of freedom and democracy he advocated and truly believed in would be the more befitting tribute. Free people living in a democracy must live like free people in a democracy,” he said.
Lawyer Darboe continued that Solo died for principles whose validation must go beyond verbal affirmation. He added that no Gambian should ever again be a victim of their own government. He said Gambians must abhor every indication of rights violation and insist on scrupulous adherence to the rule of law.
The politician further stated that both the citizens and the government have a duty to safeguard the freedom and democracy that Solo died for.
“It is an undeniable fact that Ebrima Solo Sandeng died in the battle for freedom and democracy. It is our duty to uphold his legacy and that of all those who fell in the battle for a better Gambia. The best way to honour the sacrifices of the fallen is to live up to the principles of freedom and democracy for which they paid the ultimate price.”
In killing Solo for exercising his constitutional rights, the former Vice President continued that our nation regained the democracy that was interrupted for 22 years while reiterating that his ultimate sacrifice of losing his life is what gave us deliverance from the Jammeh regime.
He stated that the democracy that exists today is not a gift-wrapped token bestowed on the citizens, saying neither is it a miracle that materialised out of thin air. He said it is the product of 22 years of struggle paid for by the blood, tears, sweat and sacrifice of countless regular citizens of all persuasions who believed in and acted on the proposition that tyranny needed to be confronted and democracy was worth fighting for.
“These are the people who defeated tyranny and reconstituted the New Gambia with a promise to uphold democratic values and promote and protect the fundamental rights and freedoms gifted to us by God. That is why when freedoms are seized in whatever guise, those who value it become duty-bound to reclaim it whatever price that may entail. Solo was the catalyst and one of the principal architects of the reconstituted New Gambia.”
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