NRC to start public hearings after November 25

Accra (Greater Accra) 01 November 2002- The National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) on Thursday said it has completed investigations into some of the 2,082 statements so far received on human rights violations in unconstitutional regimes and would start public hearings after 25 November.

Ms Annie Anipa, Director of the Public Affairs Secretariat of the Commission, told a press briefing in Accra that the contractors working on the rehabilitation of the Old Parliament House Building had agreed to hand over the building by November 18.

The Commission would then move from the Independence Square, its temporary offices, to the offices of the Old Parliament House building where it was originally scheduled to sit.

Renovation of the offices of the Old Parliament House, currently being occupied by the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and the Serious Fraud Office, was to have been completed by the end of October, but Ms Anipa said the contractor has requested two weeks' extension.

She stressed that the reconciliation exercise was not an occasion for conflict and confrontation and said individuals or groups, apart from victims or perpetrators, who had knowledge or were witnesses to human rights abuses, had a civic duty to assist the Commission.

Ms Anipa asked such people also to give information to the Commission to help in establishing the claims of alleged victims or perpetrators saying it would assist the Commission to compile a complete record of the occurrences of the periods under investigation.

She said under the NRC Act the Commission had the power to require any person to disclose any information relevant to its proceedings and would subpoena such persons to produce any article, document or any other record to that effect.

She rejected media comments that state funding of the Commission would subject it to government manipulation, saying the independence and integrity of the Commission would never be impugned by its reception of funds from government.

Ms Anipa said the Commission was a public institution, and the Act 611 establishing it stipulated that funds for its administrative expenditure should be from the Consolidated Fund and any other public fund, donations and grants.

"It is a misconception to argue that the mere funding of a state institution compromises its independence. "We are aware that a number of independent institutions such as the CHRAJ, SFO, and the Auditor General's Department, the National Commission for Civic

Education and the National Electoral Commission are fully funded."

She said Government has agreed to provide 1.5 million dollars of the budgeted five million dollars and has so far provided 980,000 dollars. Ms Anipa said the Commission is encouraged by the level of co-operation it has received from both private and public institutions in the course of investigations and requested that specific inquiries should be given expeditious attention to facilitate the Commission's work.

Out of the 2,082 statements, Accra still tops with 787, with Bolgatanga having the least with 64. From the other zonal offices, Kumasi has 527, Takoradi 317, Tamale 270 and Ho 117.