Darboe Urges Citizens to Pursue Legal Action Against Government for Rights Violations
By Buba Gagigo
Lawyer Ousainu Darboe, the Secretary-General and Party Leader of the United Democratic Party (UDP), has urged Gambia citizens to consider taking legal action against the government for infringing on their rights.
Darboe in an interview on Kerr Fatou emphasized, “If you did not violate your bail conditions, they have no right to revoke the bail because the bail is granted to your own conditions, and you fulfill those conditions. If you don’t violate your bail conditions, why will they rearrest you? That will again be an improper exercise of discretion. That’s why I said people should be ready to sue the government so that we can put a stop to this. We cannot take stones and sticks to solve the problem, but we should use the laws of the land to show them what they are doing is not correct, and we will not accept it,”
He also expressed his disappointment in President Barrow’s statement regarding the rearrest of individuals granted bail, describing it as regrettable.
“it is unfortunate that the president said that about Court bail. He should have been the one who should stand to see that laws are not violated in the Gambia. Our constitution provided that all agencies of government should help the judges to enforce their judgments and the president should lead that. But is very unfortunate, maybe he has regretted making that statement. Let him be mindful because these are small things that come together until you show your true colors. These are signs, and they are bad signs for the country, and they are not good signs for the president. Because it is a sign to say I don’t want to respect that law. How can a court give orders, and you ask the police to rearrest them? If that happened, the magistrate or judge should take that particular police officer for contempt and take you to mile 2 and give you a long date,” he said.
Lawyer Ousainu Darboe, Secretary General and Party Leader of the United Democratic Party (UDP) made these remarks while speaking to Kerr Fatou last Thursday.