Forum On National Reconciliation in Tamale

The Northern Regional Information Officer, Mr A.J. Tigawuti has called on the government to launch a public education campaign on the proposed National Reconciliation Commission before the Bill is discussed in Parliament.

This, he said, would enable people to have adequate knowledge of the National Reconciliation Commission Draft Bill to be able to make meaningful contribution towards reconciling the nation.

Mr Tigawuti said currently the Bill was being circulated among the urban elite whilst the majority of the people who need to be reconciled live outside the big cities and do not have access to the Bill.

The Regional Information officer was speaking at a public forum on the proposed National Reconciliation Commission organised by the Legal Resource Centre (LRC) in Tamale on Wednesday.

The forum is part of the LRC's programme to promote an extensive public debate on the nature and form of the National Reconciliation exercise.

The LRC would also collate views and submit them to Parliament when the House is considering the Bill.

Though the participants agreed that there was the need for reconciliation they did not agree on the time frame.

Some described the proposed timeframe of June 4, 1979, to September 23, 1979 and December 31, 1981 to February 6, 1993 as an attempt to witch-hunt and victimise certain personalities in a particular regime.

That group, who were identified as sympathisers of the NDC, suggested that the time frame should be extended to 1966 when Ghana had its first military coup d'etat.

Another school of though said the scope of the Commission must be broadened and not be excluded to regimes.

"Excluding them to only regimes meant bringing such regimes under trial," and this would not bring about reconciliation," it said.

Mr Ben B. Shaibu, a lawyer, suggested that the Commission must be decentralised to address specific grievances at specific places.

He said the representation to the Commission must include traditional rulers, organised labour, non-governmental organisations, and the security services while the Commission must be a permanent institution.

Mr Baba Mohammed, a teacher, said the reconciliation must not be limited to the political sphere and cited the 1994 Northern ethnic conflict, in which several people were killed and nothing has been done about it.

Mr Mohammed said to the people of the Northern Region, national reconciliation would be meaningless if it does not address the atrocities during the ethnic conflict.