Minority commends NRC, but...

Alban Bagbin, the Minority Leader in Parliament, has praised the proceedings of the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) so far but said it should do more to erase the impression that it is a political tool of government.

He was giving his impression about the work of the NRC so far in an interview with The Evening News in Accra. Bagbin said, “so far, witnesses appearing before the commission are living up to expectation but sometimes they make allegations that cannot stand rigorous cross-examination.

He said even though the commission had had an objective to find out the truth, it should be able to erase the perception that it would declare a witness who testified before it a bad person. Bagbin said even though by word and deed, members of the commission were doing the best to assuage the anger and pain of the injured, they seemed to be over looking the search for the truth.

He said an important function under Section 3(I) of the NRC bill required the commission to establish the truth and to help set historical records straight. He cited the commission’s hearing last week between B.T. Baba, the Director of the Ghana Prisons Service and Rexford Ohemeng, an ex-detainee and said the truth did not come out clearly on the alleged torture.

Bagbin said counsel for the victim should have been allowed to subject Baba to rigorous cross-examination to come out with the truth. He advised that the commission should do a detailed credible work since Ghanaians might not get such an opportunity again. “The recommendation and further action of the commission should be built on a very solid and credible record,” he said.

Mr Bagbin said he was still sceptical about the outcome of the hearings of the commission, saying the ultimate aim of reconciling the nation might not be achieved. He said the entire exercise could only be described as a step towards achieving reconciliation, as comprehensive reconciliation would entail more than that.

The Minority Leader said since the idea of reconciling Ghanaians was shrouded in partisanship, it would be very difficult if not impossible for the NRC to achieve that goal. He said, for instance, the opposition parties in the country had not given the commission their fullest support.

The MP said the NPP chairman, Harona Esseku, the NPP chairman’s justification of the coup of 24 February 1966 made some people wonder how a government would take recommendations on human rights violation of that ear.

Bagbin said the Reconciliation Commission in South Africa did not succeed as the African National Congress (ANC), disagreed with its recommendations. Similarly, he said the Nigerian Reconciliation Commission and others collapsed, attesting to the failure of such initiatives in Africa.

Ghana, he said, should not therefore follow the examples of others who failed in their bid to reconcile the nation. Bagbin said the NPP had misled Ghanaians by creating the impression that the reconciliation procession was new, saying the exercise began long ago. “Since 1992, reconciliation had been done through various acts of government including the grant of amnesty to detainees and the return of confiscated assets to their original owners.

The Minority Leader said even though the property of late Dr Kofi Abrefa Busia, President of the Second Republic, was confiscated during the Acheampong regime, it was the NDC that de-confiscated it. He said the government also proceeded to give appointments to people who were from other political tradition.

Bagbin said the government of the PNDC and the NDC had people from the UP and CPP and also ensured regional balance in appointments. He said by ignoring the initiatives of the NDC government and pretending that it was implementing a policy on reconciliation as contained in its manifesto, the NPP gave a political twist to an otherwise noble intention.

Bagbin said the current reconciliation exercise would have gained easy acceptance and proved the sceptics wrong if the NPP had recognised what the PNDC/NDC did before.