Musa O Bah & Sainabou Sambou
The Late Propaganda Secretary of the Opposition United Democratic Party, Ebrima Solo Sandeng was yesterday finally laid to rest in a state funeral amid a procession from the Banjul mortuary to the Never Again Memorial Arch formally, Arch 22.
Scores of mourners from cabinet, family members and senior executive members of his former party, the United Democratic Party led by the Secretary General and Leader of the party Ousainu Darboe paid their final respect to the late political activist who died in April 2016 after marching on to the street demanding for electoral changes.
Paying his last respect to the late Solo Sandeng whose body was exhumed by the state last year, Ousainu Darboe emotionally described Mr. Sandeng as an ordinary citizen who achieved an extraordinary outcome for his country through selfless devotion to humanity, the principle he believed and died for.
“Solo Sandeng’s principles were anchored in his strong belief that democracy was the best form of self-governance for all who value freedom. He also believed in a similar refrain that democracy and freedom are not for free and that only those who are willing to fight to create and retain their freedom and democracy would be entitled to keep it,” the Secretary General and Leader of the UDP, Ousainu Darboe told hundreds of mourners at the Never Again Memorial Ground in Banjul were eulogies were delivered before the befitting official burial of the later Solo Sandeng at Dippa Kunda.
Mr. Darboe also paid a solemn prayer for the deceased, Solo Sandeng whom he said died while exercising his constitutional right which brought democracy and freedom which the citizens are enjoying after 22 years of dictatorship.
The party leader also observed that the democracy that exists today was neither a gift nor a miracle but a product of 22 years of struggle paid by the blood and tears of countless citizens who sacrificed to end dictatorship.
“These are the people who defeated tyranny and reconstituted the new Gambia with a promise to uphold democratic values, 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,” the bereaved UDP leader observed, while urging authorities to value and legislate good electoral laws that Mr. Sandeng fought and died in order to keep his legacy.
