Reconciliation must start from First Republic

Majority of contributors at the second public hearing on the National Reconciliation Bill held in Kumasi on Wednesday expressed the view that the period to be covered should start from the First Republic to reflect the true essence of reconciliation.

They feel that justice would be done if the time frame covered the first republic and not limited to only a specific period of time.

The public hearing follows a proposal by the government to set up a National Reconciliation Commission and in pursuit of this therefore, a national reconciliation bill has been laid before Parliament.

The Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, in conjunction with the Centre for Development of Democracy and the Civil Society Coalition, all non-governmental organisations (NGOs), has therefore, started a series of public hearings to solicit information, views and suggestions from a cross section of Ghanaians to enable the committee to take informed decisions.

The first public hearing was held at Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region.

The Reverend Brew Riverson, a retired educationist, asked that the period should start from 1949, when Britain granted self-government to the country to find out what went wrong to necessitate military intervention in the First Republic and the subsequent military interventions after that.

Mr Mike Bishop Owusu of Adehye FM at Bibiani, did not agree with the proposal that the President, in consultation with the Council of State, should appoint members of the reconciliation committee, since he could have swayed over the Council of State members to appoint his favourites.

He also agreed that the exercise should start from the Rirst Republic and called on the political parties not to make the indemnity clause in the constitution a subject of debate during the 2004 elections since it would not help in the reconciliation exercise.

Mr S.P. Ofrang, an assembly member at the Asante-Akim North District Assembly, however, noted that since reconciliation went with compensation, the government would bite more than it could chew if the exercise started from the First Republic.

He, therefore, suggested that it must start from June 4, which he said, marked the start of atrocities to many Ghanaians but cautioned that revenge should not be the basis of the reconciliation exercise.

In his opening remarks, Mr Osei Aidoo, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, noted that almost every government the country had had, breached the law in one way or the other.

He said the country cannot go on this way and that it was about time something positive was done about it.

Mr Aidoo said there were a lot of people who had suffered at the hands of the state but due to the indemnity clause in the constitution, could not seek redress but cautioned, however, that the public hearings should not be a way to get the clause removed from the constitution.

Parliament, he said, was not in a position to tackle that clause yet and that the public hearing was a way to get an avenue or medium to give all those who had been wronged, an opportunity to get a hearing, adding that the commission would not be a court, where people would be prosecuted.

Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni, a member of the committee, said the exercise was part of parliament's programme to reach out to Ghanaians to make representation to the committee.

He said there was the need to reach out to the people so that the nation could be reconciled in order to move forward.

Alhaji Mumuni said the move, when handled properly, would unify the people, but warned that if it was not properly handled, it could throw the nation into chaos as if the "Pandora Box" had been opened.

He, therefore, urged civil society to be forthcoming for the exercise to unite all Ghanaians.

In his welcoming address, Mr S.K. Boafo, Ashanti Regional Minister, said there was no gainsaying that reconciliation was vital for national unity and that the issue of reconciliation had in recent times been of great concern to all Ghanaians both young and old.

He noted government's commitment to an active policy of national reconciliation designed to heal and bind the wounds of the past, adding that this was a commitment that had the support of the nation.

"It is really time we freed the future from the past and enhance the possibilities of consolidating and deepening the hold of democracy and respect for human rights and the rule of law in our dear country," he said.