Asked in a 1996 newspaper interview why he plunged headlong into politics and
the then presidential race, Lawyer Darbo recounted an ugly incident which for
the first time brought him directly to naked glare of the State sanctioned
political thuggery of the erstwhile AFPRC. As he intimated to the journalist,
that ugly encounter with State sponsored terror took the form of unidentified
men jumping out of a van and trying to abduct him by forcing him [Lawyer
Darbo] to follow them into their van after a brief altercation. Lawyer
Darbo's great fortune was that the area was not very deserted and when he
point-blank refused to follow his would-be abductors to their van, and when
the altercation was about to raise eye brows from standees and passers-by,
the thugs decided to let him be. Thus Lawyer Darbo missed his meeting with
what could have been another Koro Ceesay-type of State sponsored
extra-judicial murder. Needless to say that the incident was both an eye
opener and a moment of clarity for Lawyer Darbo in that the incident became
him a point of reference as he embarked on his tumultuous and vicissitudinous
political career. The question becomes relevant: why was the AFPRC becoming
increasingly worried about Lawyer Darbo and his activities? The answer to
which was slowly becoming glarer and glarer. Reason being chiefly that
because by the time their kangaroo courts - or Commissions of Enquiry, as
they euphemistically preferred to call them - Lawyer Darbo has begun doing
what he had always been hailed for all his legal career: making a sham of the
monstrous travesty of a justice the Commissions were. In other words, Lawyer
Darbo was ruffling the feathers of the AFPRC establishment when he defended
those they were determined to nail by hook or crook.
Following that near-miss of a fatal abduction with AFPRC thugs, Lawyer Darbo
told his interviewer, he knew Gambians were in terrible danger from a very
loutish and philistine regime. From that moment onwards, he became a
relentless campaigner, fighter and defender for those whose Human Rights were
continually trampled upon by the AFPRC/APRC. There was then no turning back
for this gallant but humble lawyer who always stood by the weak, innocent and
defenceless through thick and thin. From moral and financial support to those
he defended to putting his own family life and career on hold as he tend to
the poor, the vulnerable and the continually trampled upon the name Lawyer
Darbo became synonmous with the fight to cleanse the Gambia of
unconstitutionality, undue process and political decadence. To the extent
that Lawyer Darbo understood the graveness of the Gambian crises, he knew
deep in his heart that his encounter with those political thugs was not a
one-off; but a harbinger for things in store for Gambians. It then became a
profitless - in terms of monetary gains - and passionate crusade for Lawyer
Darbo to fight tooth and nail to debunk the lies and barbarity inherent in
the AFPRC/APRC political agenda; and most importantly, to defend the
fundamental Human Rights of poor and rich Gambians alike who are continually
at the receiving end of the barbarity of the AFPRC/APRC. This, as Lawyer
Darbo, told his interviewer, was the primary reason why he entered politics:
to fight for and give back to all Gambians - irrespective of tribe, creed,
gender, religion and ideology - their inviolable and non-negotiable
political, social and economic freedoms.
Taking the AFPRC/APRC to task on their vast executive excesses vis-a-vis
Human Right abuses and infringement of basic political liberties, was not a
novelty for this courageous and indomitable Gambian patriot. Before embarking
on a private law practice, this legal luminary was a State advocate at the
AG's Chambers and only left because of personal disappointments that saw him
being by-passed for promotions on several occasions. Unlike most Gambians,
when he left the AG's Chambers, Lawyer Darbo left without grudges and or
feelings of vindictive-ness; rather, he set about setting up a flourishing
law practice that became part of the creme de la creme of Gambian law
practice. But Lawyer Darbo wasn't in it just for monetary gain and social
ascension. The man knows deep in heart that lawyers have to stand for the
poor, the defenceless and those that are continually victimised and
discriminated against by the powerful. It is out of this pro bono dictum -
which has come to epitomise his life's philosophy - that Lawyer Darbo
defended the Human Rights of the many indicted in the ill-fated 1981 putsch
of Kukoi Samba Sanyang and his ragtag fraternity of crack-pot Marxists. Such
famous prisoners like Cheyassin - who ignominously hounded Lawyer Darbo when
he was in a position of influence as AG - and SM Dibba. Not only did he
defend these peoples on a pro bono basis, but there were instances where he
financially maintained the families of those he defended whilst they were
incarcerated.
The most remarkable and noble quality in this legal giant - amongst his many
- is his great virtue of whilst experiencing pain, difficulties and
disappointment inflicted upon him by people, he merely learn from the
experience and start looking stoically forward to the future to come. The man
has never let such experiences rankle to the point where he makes it a
vendetta to have his revenge on those who wronged him in the past - unlike
most Gambians as the AFPRC/APRC experiences continue to attest to this
fundamental moral truth. The ability to learn from one's difficulty
encounters with those who wronged one, and in the process, learning from it
to stoically think and move forward, is one of those noble virtues only few
are blessed with. The fact that Lawyer Darbo can encounter all those
difficulties and disappointments with the PPP and stoically use the
experience to move forward to a new life of better and better, informs us
that in this soft-spoken but defiant and valiant lawyer, lies the Gambia's
best hopes of regeneration and a better future. In my view, this is certainly
his most outstanding quality as a human being and most certainly a reflection
of the kind of leadership qualities the Gambia is going to be in need of in a
traumatic post- Jammeh Gambia.
As thousands of Alliance supporters and indeed ordinary Gambian folks
accompanied him yet again to be nominated, Lawyer Darbo has presented himself
yet again to Gambians to consider him for the Gambian presidency. I believe
strongly that the stellar advocacy this legal luminary has made in the
private sphere on behalf of ALL Gambians - rich and poor alike - should now
be translated into a reward: namely, the highest political official in the
land, i.e, the Gambian Presidency. The greatest problem that faces the
Gambian peoples today is that of picking up the pieces of the tragic wreckage
their country has been reduced to by Jammeh and moving forward from the
tragic wreckage. As the American journalist, Walter Lippmann, once commented
on the test and measurement of leadership, the final test of every leader is
that they leave behind in their fellow country-men the conviction and will to
carry on. Indeed, in Lawyer Darbo - a man who has never let himself be the
hostage of a painful past - lies the Gambia's and Gambians' best bet of
having the conviction and will to carry on to a new era of freedom and
liberty. Does not Lawyer Darbo's own personal life struggles and triumphs
bear testimony to Walter Lippmann's wiseacres on the test and measurement of
leadership?
Hamjatta Kanteh
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