Reconciliation Commission to begin soon

Accra (The Statesman) - Amid the Fast Track Court’s constitutionality marathon and the all-important battle to bring peace and reconciliation to the Dagbon kingdom, Ghanaians would be forgiven if their minds had momentarily shifted away from the National Reconciliation Commission.

It is recalled that the Yendi Skin Affairs Committee of Inquiry chaired by Nii Amaa Ollennu concluded: “their election and enskinment of Mahamadu Abudulai…was procured by the use of force, which brought a contingent of the Army and the police in conflict with members of the Andani family in and around the palace, resulting in the Armed Forces opening fire on members of the Andani family, killing 23 and wounding several others. Since then and particularly in the heated debates on the Reconciliation Bill, the Yendi shooting incident of 1969 was often cited as a particular case for inquiry.

It is for smothering cases such as this and several other allegations of indiscriminate abuses of human rights that the government of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) went on the mission to create a National Reconciliation Commission to inquire into them with the emphasis squarely on addressing the festering wounds of the victims.

The Statesman can reveal that the government is still on track to begin that necessary healing exercise before the end of this month. On Wednesday 23 January, the paper exclusively named the men and women slated to sit on the panel. Subsequent investigation has revealed that two of the names mentioned have been dropped and replaced.

One of them is Prof John Nabila. He is to be replaced by another senior lecturer from the University of Ghana, Legon Prof Henrietta Mensah-Bonsu, a law lecturer on the panel to be chaired by the retired Supreme Court Justice, K.E. Amua Sekyi. The other members include General Erskine, Mrs Sylvia Awo Mansah Boye, Bishop Charles Palmer-Buckle, Prof Florence Abena Dolphyne, Christian Appia-Agyei and Maulvi Wahab Adam.

A government source said, “The Commission is being set up now so that they can begin the necessary exercise to formulate the secretariat before it begins a sitting.” The secretariat will be headed by Ken Attafuah, a director of CHRAJ. The Reconciliation Act 2002 seeks to reconcile the nation by making non-punitive amends for the victims of military rule.

The specific periods of reference are the military regimes beginning from the first military coup in Ghana in 1966. These are from 24 February 1966 to 21 August 1969; 13 January 1972 to 23 September 1979, and 31 December 1981 to 6 January 1993. Moreover, the Commission is empowered by the Act to consider individual cases that fall outside the specific periods of reference but happened after 6 March 1957.

It is recalled that the transitional provisions of all the three Constitutions succeeding a military regime prevented any court of law from questioning the legality or otherwise of the human rights violations committed by agents of state at the time.