Legal justice alone is not enough for reconciliation

Tamale, Nov. 19, GNA - The Reverend Father Thaddeus Kuusah, Chairman of the Northern Region Peace and Advocacy Council (NORPAC), has stated that legal justice alone does not bring true reconciliation as many people perceived it to be.

He said even though legal justice was one of the factors in reconciliation process, on many occasions, it satisfies one side against the other, which was likely to result in retaliation from the loser.

"True reconciliation must go with reparation, justice, truth, mercy and healing as well as forgiveness and peace, in the absent of these, legal justice alone would aggravate the situation", he explained. Reverend Father Kuusah was speaking at the launch of the Summary and Synthesis of the National Reconciliation Commission's (NRC) Final Report Booklet titled: "Never Again" in Tamale on Saturday.

The 21-paged booklet, which also contains some recommendations of the NRC's report, is the brainchild of Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD), an NGO involved in the democratic development in the country.

Many contributors at the forum expressed concern about the lack of legal justice against perpetrators, particularly those involved in the Yendi massacre in 1969.

Reverend Father Kuusah noted that reparation justice could bring sustainable peace than legal justice, describing it as "win, win situation" and urged Ghanaians not to lose sight of it.

A contributor said it was wrong for the CDD to hijack the duty of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) by embarking on educational campaign on the NRC final report, explaining that the NDC had accused the CDD of having its sympathies with the NPP.

The contributor also warned against the repelling of the "Indemnity Clauses, saying if that was done, it would not be good for the country because "just from the whistle go, the NRC was politicized".

Mr. Abdul Wahab Musah, Programme Officer of CDD noted that building a sustainable future for the country would depend on reconciling those who were hurt during the past regimes.

He announced that the booklet would be translated into the major local languages for many people to read and understand the history of the country.