Boakye Djan's prescription of National Reconciliation

It has been suggested that the final issue that must be a concern to all Ghanaians is the reported flood of amendments that has put the real work on the bill on hold.

Making the suggestion in a statement he faxed from London to the Crusading Guide, the former deputy Chairman and official spokesman of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), Major Kojo Boakye Djan (rtd) cautioned Parliamentary constituents in the country not to allow Parliamentarians to make long speeches to delay the passing of the bill into law.

“They must take advantage of the recess to make their representatives in Parliament know in no uncertain terms that a non-partisan consensus to pass the bill within its specified periods of unconstitutional governments is the only way forward for our born again democracy”, he advised.

He then observed, “it will help to clarify the past in ways that will surely provide us with a guide for our common future”.

According to Major Boakye Djan (rtd), there could be no justification for beginning an investigation of the nation’s troubled past from March 6, 1957 as it was a day of independence and “the occasion for boundless joy, celebrations and festivals that nobody has ever challenged”.

He wondered why the exercise should include civilian regimes since, he maintained, during any of the brief interludes of civilian regimes in that period, there were enough machinery to seek redress from most of the abuses the bill is targeting. “Some of these abuses are indeed known to have been challenged and won”, he underscored and wondered, “Why should the Commission now be burdened with willed and wilful omissions of complainants today, if any”?

Major Boakye Djan observed further that only unconstitutional governments are prevented by the Transitional Provisions from being questioned with dangerous implications for the country’s constitutional future.

He said however, that nobody is prevented from pursuing his or her case (if any) and which occurred during those civilian regimes, through the normal courts. “Besides, references can and will be made to civilian regimes and other attempts to deal with purely politically motivated attempts to overthrow them by means other than those provided for under the constitution during any commission hearings”, Boakye Djan stated.

He said it was in that context that in his previous recommendation he asked that the period of civil unrest preceding the 1966 coup should be included.

He submitted further, “But even here that period beginning in October 1954 to February 1966 provides a necessary but not essential backdrop to the investigation of unconstitutional governments in Ghana as provided for the bill”.