Reconciliation is to promote unity

Sheikh Ibrahim Codjoe Quaye, Greater Accra Regional Minister and MP for Ayawaso Central said on Thursday that the National Reconciliation Bill was not a witch-hunting device to demonise past regimes but to promote peace and unity among the citizenry.

He said the process would not focus on extra judicial activities of past regimes but to identify the victims and compensate them. Sheikh Quaye was speaking at the Greater Accra Regional People's Assembly as a sequel to the national one presided over by the President last Monday.

The People's Assembly is part of activities marking the ninth anniversary of the fourth republic and one year of the NPP administration, dubbed: "One Year Of Positive Change."

Sheikh Quaye told the audience, comprising Ministers of State, MPs, District Chief Executives, Chiefs, Queen mothers and a cross-section of the public that reconciliation also meant that the perpetrators of human rights abuses must come out openly to express remorse for their actions.

Answering a question on the poor street lighting system in Accra, the Regional Minister said 17 MPs had agreed to contribute 300 million cedis from their share of the District Assemblies Common Fund towards the provision and rehabilitation of streetlights. Nii Ayittey Agbofu, Gbese Mantse, appealed to the government to expedite action on the return of stool lands to their traditional custodians to facilitate the development of the region.

He called on his colleagues to use dialogue to settle land disputes instead of locking themselves in prolonged legal battles in the courts.Mr. Ishmael Ashitey, Minister of State for Fisheries gave fishermen the assurance that government would provide them with credit facilities to acquire inputs to increase their productivity.