ACCRA (dpa) – Ghana has been described as an “island of peace” in West Africa where several of its neighbours have been rocked by civil war, religious conflicts and political intolerance.
But things are different beneath the surface, according to the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), which conducted a survey on national reconciliation for parliament to further the new government’s desire to “heal the wounds of the country”.“The survey captures the perceptions and opinions of Ghanaians on the stated intentions of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government to embark on a national reconciliation exercise,” CDD-Ghana said.The centre-right NPP that won presidential and parliamentary elections last December made national reconciliation one of its campaign promises and wants to set up a commission to this end.Attorney-General and Minister of Justice Nana Akufo-Addo said the process, supported by 89 per cent of the population, constitutes efforts to build a new nation on the ideals of freedom and justice.But how far back should the country look in such a process?The government and CDD-Ghana say the exercise should concentrate only on the governments led by former president Jerry Rawlings dating back to 1979.But some commentators argue that all governments since independence in 1957 have been accused of one form of human rights abuse or the other.According to the survey, Rawlings’ three-month rule in 1979 when he was sprung from jail to lead “a housecleaning exercise” received 68 per cent negative rating.His later Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) and National Defence Council (NDC) governments received negative ratings of 56 and 45 per cent respectively.The first government in Ghana of socialist President Kwame Nkrumah (1957-66) had 22 per cent negative rating while the new government’s predecessor, the Progress Party (1969-72), had a 13 per cent negative rating.The other three military governments of 1966-69, 1972-78 and 1978- 79 had 22 per cent, 21 per cent and 23 per cent respectively.The Rawlings era was cited for killings, arbitrary arrest and asset confiscation, the other governments for detention and arbitrary arrests, intimidation and dismissals of workers.Although Rawlings has apologised more than once for the “excesses” in his governments, the public has insisted on investigating the killings and confiscation of assets as well as human rights abuses.The private newspaper, the Voice, said although the idea of reconciliation is laudable, the nature, purpose and manner of the commission as is being proposed may further tear the country apart.Indeed, the survey also acknowledges that nine per cent of respondents are opposed to a formal reconciliation project because they see it as a waste of resources that is likely to degenerate into witch-hunting and victimization.At a conference in Accra, Alex Boraine, former deputy chairman of the South Africa Truth and Reconciliation Commission, cautioned that Ghana should not imitate other commissions in its efforts to reconcile the country.“Ghanaians must work towards a process that is wholly nationalistic in scope to ensure that what happened never happens again,” he said.He said there must be a clear commitment not to forget the past but to deal with it, adding that to dwell in the past could be difficult for a good future.The conference recommended to the government that the timeframe for the commission should be from independence in 1957 to 1993 when Rawlings became a democratically elected leader.“The time frame for examining cases of abuses and injustices should not be too restrictive to be construed to be overly selective and targeting people,” participants said, adding that there should be a public debate on the issue.The government was told that the notion of justice, rehabilitation and reparation must be considered carefully in order not to divide the nation.
