National Reconciliation Commission lived up to its mandate - Prof. Attafuah
THE National Reconciliation Commission (NRC), set up by former President, John Agyekum Kufuor, to investigate human right violations and assuage the pain of victims, lived up to its mandate, the Executive Secretary of the commission, Prof. Ken Attafuah, has said.
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"So if you ask me whether the NRC lived up to its mandate 20 years on, I am proud to say yes, it did," he said at a roundtable discussion on the NRC Report in Accra last Thursday, on the topic: Justice after truth? An Assessment of the NRC report.
Background
The NRC Act (Act 611) that established the commission, came into force on January 11, 2002.
It comprised nine persons appointed by the President, in consultation with the Council of State.
It was tasked to help reconcile the people by finding out the truth about past human right violations and help victims to deal with their pain, as well as move on with their lives.
It was also tasked to recommend appropriate measures to the President to assuage the pain and make reparations to those whose human rights were violated, among others.
Report
Prof. Attafuah, who is now the Executive Secretary of the National Identification Authority (NIA), said although the report of the commission was widely distributed and every university in the country was given copies, two or three years later, it was difficult to find a single copy in any public library.
“Today, we can look back from May 2002 up to September 2004, and say that it was good that we went through the process of excavation and documentation of history to help chart a better future for this country,” he said.
Observations
A media expert and former Board Chairman of the Graphic Communications Group Ltd, Prof. Kwame Karikari, observed that the nation was polarised during the work of the NRC.
For her part, a retired Court of Appeal Judge, Justice Angelina Mornah Domakyaareh, said after receiving an invitation to the meeting, she could not find the report of the commission
anywhere to research.
A security expert, Col. (retd) Festus Aboagye, said there must be a follow-up to continue to reconcile the people.
"Because some of the damage that is done to national cohesion, national unity, is in the spiritual dimension. It does not stop when you have submitted the report, you must deploy conscious efforts to continue to build cohesion," he said.
The Founder of Law Office of Kim Stanton, Dr Kim Stanton, said “the important thing to do is to ask our leaders and officials to make the NRC report available and for it to be incorporated into the education set up of the country".
The Chairman of Afrobarometer and former Executive Director of CDD, Prof. Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi, who moderated the event, said it was an opportunity to reflect on the NRC experience and the recommendations made in the report.
