NDC To Go To Court Over Reconciliation Bill

The minority NDC in Parliament has threatened to go to court over the National Reconciliation Bill. The NDC says the Bill lacked the required quorum in Parliament for its passage into law. They have therefore accused President Kufuor of giving a Presidential assent to an illegality.

The NDC has further accused the President of lending himself to a party agenda, which the ruling government wants to implement under the cloak of National Reconciliation. Minority leader, Alban Bagbin who leads the NDC to court to seek redress in the matter says the decision to go court is based on the fact that there was no quorum in the chamber of Parliament at the time the Bill was being passed on the last day of sitting, December 21, 2001.

Mr Bagbin, who is also MP for Nadowli North warned that if the President or for that matter the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) fails to listen to the concerns of the majority of Ghanaians, including civil society, that the period of investigation by the Reconciliation Commission should begin from March 6, 1957 as the minority NDC in Parliament has suggested, then it would be a big injustice to the people of Ghana.

It would also be a blow to the cause of democracy in the country, thus, setting a dangerous precedent. The passage of the Bill without regard for concerns raised by the NDC, according to Bagbin has rather eroded the credibility and independence of the yet-to-be-formed Reconciliation Commission.

Hon. Bagbin further accused the majority in Parliament and the Executive, including the President of ignoring the sentiments expressed by the minority and rather inserting an obnoxious clause that the commission has the mandate to decide whether it ought to extend its investigation to cover the period of independence.

According to Mr. Bagbin, a clause in the Bill, which gives an exclusive right to the Commission to hear victims of violations since 1957, is unconstitutional and discriminatory. In the NDC’s view, the Bill has not got the support of the majority of Ghanaians.

Mr Bagbin said the majority ignored appeals from prominent Ghanaians such as the General Overseer of the International Central Gospel Church, Rev. Dr. Mensah Otabil; Mr. Justice Crabbe, a retired Jurist; Rev. Dr. Aboagye Mensah, General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana and Mr. K.B. Asante, a retired diplomat and President of the GaDangme Association, to extend the Commission’s time frame to March 1957.

The NDC says it is gathering strong evidence on the matter of lack of quorum to go to court for redress. The President formally appended his signature to the Bill last week, passing it into law.