Accra (Greater Accra), 20th January 2000 - The Minority group in Parliament on Wednesday promised to sponsor very soon a " State Resettlement Bill that will legitimise the proper resettlement of President Jerry John Rawlings after his exist from office.
"We recognise the brute fact that at a youthful age of 52 and after nearly 25 years at the helm of national affairs, President Rawlings will have some problems managing his imminent retirement, " Minority leader J.H. Mensah said on Wednesday.
"The whole nation has a legitimate interest to help him overcome those problems. The easier part of this exercise concerns the material provisions for his retirement. In this area, it is perhaps more appropriate for the Minority side than our friends opposite to exercise the initiative."
Mr. Mensah's emotional speech labelled " Realisation, Reconciliation and Restitution " was part of his contribution to the debate on President's sessional address to Parliament.
He proposed similar conditions for the Vice-President, Professor John Evans Atta Mills, and the Speaker of Parliament, Mr. Justice Daniel Francis .Annan, and hoped that such "a bill will meet the support of the media and Ghanaians as a whole".
Mr. Mensah called for strategies and mechanisms for bringing about a process of reconciliation and restitution to further the President's call for national unity.
" It is logical to believe that the President's courageous admission in Parliament of the errors and hurts of his regime in general also implies a willingness to speak freely about particular wrongs and injustices."
The Minority leader opined that though it may be difficult for President Rawlings to face individual victims and reconcile with them, he must do it to give meaning to his apology contained in his last sessional address.
"The truth about reconciliation is this; it can not be accomplished in abstract and it cannot be done anonymously. Reconciliation has to be with particular living individuals and over specific matters." He said the President can make a tremendous contribution to national reconciliation, stability and unity, by supporting initiatives for reforms of the electoral system.
".... and by reining in members of the civil service and the security agencies from acts of political discrimination and intimidation to the advantage of his party." Mr. Mensah, revisiting the issue of the funding of political parties, said :
"There is absolutely no major administrative or legal obstacle to providing equitable logistic support to all parties with transport, printing, time and space for publicity in the state-owned media. "This kind of even-hearted support for all parties would certainly be better for promoting national unity than to have the ruling party exploiting public facilities for its sole benefit..."
He disagreed with the President's assertion that "consider your offence, upset or hurt is the small price you have had to pay for the greater collective good" and called this assertion as "an attempt to excuse the inexcusable.
"It shows deplorably little appreciation of the value of the human personality and our most basic rights- the right to life and property, to our human dignity and personal security, to natural justice and the due process of law.
"We substitute a philosophical proposition of our own, conciliate specific human beings and families and make restitution as far as may be for particular hurt, loss and injury suffered by specific individuals."
He called on Parliament to pass a " National Reconciliation Bill" to set up a National Commission on Reconciliation and Restitution that will operate under the legislature's authority to heal the society.
"It is only after those re-corrective measures have shown significant results that the amnesty which the President needs for himself and his associates can be achieved.
"True amnesty cannot be taken by the offender himself: It can be granted by the victims after confession, restitution and genuine absolution"
Mr. Mensah urged Ghanaians to resolve that "never again will the choice of Ghana's political leadership be the product of anger and frustration expressed through blind violence and the overthrow of our national institutions of law and of peaceful political competition." He asked President Rawlings to take a more personal interest in the supervision of the economy. "It seems that in his administration, managing the economic health of the nation is a subsidiary job that can be left to the Minister of Finance." GRi
GRi in Parliament 20 - 01 - 2000 *************************** Sessional address debate still glued to President's apology ********************************************** Accra (Greater Accra), 21st January 2000 Emotional speeches about the excesses of the revolution and the call for national reconciliation continue to dominate the debate of this year's sessional address in Parliament. President Jerry John Rawlings set the tone in his last address to the legislature which concluded with an apology .
Mr. M.A. Seidu, Deputy Majority leader, said the time has come for Ghanaians to give peace and reconciliation a chance.
" Those who have suffered should learn to forgive and forget," he said adding that the stability of the nation now depends on the deeds and utterances of politicians and media practitioners. " We should be more responsible in the way we go about our political campaigning and the spread of rumours. We should not ignore our ethics and publish anything"
Mr Francis Kwasi Buor, NPP-Offinso-South, said those whose lives were sacrificed to purge the nation of the evils of corruption and nepotism were wasted because " these evils are still with us," and appealed to all Ghanaians to reconcile with each other in the interest of peace.
Mr. Buor alleged that the NDC is employing certain campaign strategies which do not augur well for the political health of the nation.
" Our farmers are being told that Mr. Kufour has refused to sign cheques meant for them and that is why they have not been paid."
This assertion did not go down well with the majority group who started heckling Mr. Buor but he stood his grounds and asked why the reported 300 million dollars raised to pay cocoa farmers has not been used.
Mr. Abuga Pele, NDC-Chiana/Paga, said it is unfortunate that the President's apology has exposed his personality to attacks and unnecessary remarks adding that the time has come for all and sundry to proclaim the President a great hero.
Mr. Solomon Kwabena Sarfoh, NPP-Mampong, called the sessional address a" perfect handing over notes for Mr. J.A.Kufuor "
He lauded the government's vision of expanding the educational infrastructural base but called for an intensive job creation to reduce the mounting joblessness.
