J.H. Mensah calls for truth commission

Minority leader J.H. Mensah on Thursday called for the establishment of a National Commission for Justice and Peace, which will be equipped to investigate events of the Rawlings era and with powers to offer compensation and or restitution on behalf of the state.

In a statement to parliament, Mr Mensah said: "Last February, I solemnly offered in this House, on behalf of the opposition, a political settlement that would enable Ghana to negotiate smoothly the transition to a fully democratic form of governance".

"Today, I am essentially repeating that offer of a package that can preserve national unity and carry Ghana safely into the post-Rawlings era." Mensah said all those who claimed to have been injured by the actions of the AFRC and PNDC, NDC agents since 1979 would have their grievances heard by the Commission.

"President Rawlings and his family would be offered personal immunity from public prosecution for any action that falls within the purview of the National Commission for Justice and Peace."

Mensah, who said this was a renewed offer of amnesty from the opposition, said the Vice-President and the Speaker of Parliament would also be granted much more generous material benefit for a dignified retirement than were then available under the existing law.

Mensah said the Minority, which will become the majority in three weeks, are today renewing the proposals that "President Rawlings and his family can enjoy our solemn guarantee, personal immunity from public prosecution for the events of these past 20 years as well as a generous retirement package for the rest of his life".

He demanded in return from the President and the NDC during this season of goodwill to renew their gesture "of reconciliation towards the victims of revolutionary lawlessness".

Mensah called on Professor Atta Mills "to help save Ghana from the unnecessary agony and expense of a protracted electoral process to accept the will of the majority and not present the NDC as an obstacle to the nation's advancement".

He asked the NDC to withdraw the candidacy of Prof. Mills from a second round of voting, as it is permissible under the constitution. "It is a difficult choice to make, and I do not envy him the agony of having to make it. But it is also the moment for Prof. Mills to register his most important contribution to the history of this nation," Mensah added.

"The starting point is that whether the NDC agrees or not, the majority in the third parliament is fully committed to setting up of statutory machinery along the lines outlined to investigate the events of the PNDC era and provide solutions to the socio-political consequences that those events bequeathed to Ghana.

"Those poisons should be taken out of the body-politic so that post-Rawlings Ghana can enjoy true peace and national unity." Earlier, the parliamentary sitting, which began quietly after it re-convened after almost five weeks break, exploded into action when Mensah took the floor to make the statement.

Just before he began, Mr Austin Gamey, Deputy Minister of Employment and Social Welfare, on a point of order, said that if the statement would generate a debate, then the Majority Leader should advise himself.

Gamey said it would not be wise to make any provocative statement now that the presidential run-off is in the offing. This view was promptly supported by the Majority Leader, Dr Kwabena Adjei, who said that the floor of the House should not be used for political campaign.

Mr Justice D.F. Annan, Speaker, ruled that Mensah should make the statement. Mensah's statement was stopped mid-stream when he referred to the Rawlings era as being over and that the President had tried to create panic among Ghanaians on the eve of Election Day. Mensah had to leave the dispatch box to take his seat when shouts from the Majority could not allow him to continue.

The minority leader's statement comes in the wake of the December 7 elections in which the minority changes position with the majority. The majority now goes into opposition with 92 seats, while the minority becomes the majority with 99 seats in the 200 seat-parliament.

Mr Ken Dzirasah, First Deputy Speaker, Dr Adjei, and many others on the Majority side rose and repeatedly called on the Speaker for attention while members from both sides continued to trade in words. The Speaker had to use his gavel several times to restore order and ruled that the statement should be made because it was better made in the House than outside.

Dr Adjei described the statement as provocative and contrary to rules and procedures of the House while Mr A.S.K. Bagbin, NDC-Nadowli North, said the immunity and resettlement of the President and his family are constitutionally provided for and that could not be circumvented.

Mr Bagbin said it was wrong for anybody to create the impression that the issue of immunity and resettlement was yet to be negotiated.