‘Kufuor was too afraid of Rawlings’ – Why White Paper on National Reconciliation Commission was never published

The Kufour administration has been branded ‘cowardly’ for failing to release a White Paper on a report detailing horrific human rights abuses suffered under military juntas.

The White Paper would have stated the government’s official position on the NRC report.

Former Squadron Commander Maj(Rtd) Ibrahim Rida said President Kufuor was paralysed into inaction because it still had an unhealthy fear of former President Rawlings, one of Africa’s most successful serial coup plotters.

It was John Agyekum Kufuor who set up the National Reconciliation Commission in January 2002 to establish “an accurate, complete and historical record of violations and abuses of human rights inflicted on persons by public institutions and holders of public office during periods of unconstitutional government.”

It covered violations between 1957 to 1993. The NRC received more than 4,200 complaints which included killings, abductions, disappearances, detention, torture and illegal seizures of properties.

The nine-member commission chaired by former Chief Justice K.E Amua-Sekyi completed their work in 2004 and submitted its report in April 2005.

But the Kufuor government was reluctant in publishing the report.

The Commission found that the governments during these eras highly contributed to the “legacy of human rights abuses” and also blamed law enforcement agencies and the military for the excesses.

In accordance with recommendations, the Kufuor government by 2007 had paid $1.5m in reparations to victims of the abuses.

But speaking more than 14 years after the NRC submitted its work, the former Squadron Commander who was cited for commendations in the NRC report expressed his disappointment in the outcome of the televised hearings of the Commission.

Ibrahim Rida who spoke on JoyNews’ Upfront complained that the Commission was not bold enough to question Rawlings on the killings of hundreds of other Ghanaians.

The NRC, he observed, appeared fixated on getting Rawlings’ version of events in the dastardly murder of some Supreme Court justices.

The retired senior military officer said he feels let down by the NRC and the Kufuor government. “Nobody has been able to raise their voice and ask [Rawlings] why did it happen”, he said.

The NRC report, Rida said “disappeared” as interested persons found it very difficult to find a copy.

He said one of the few who managed to grab a copy was Esther Odartey Wellington, the daughter of an army General Odartey Wellington who was murdered by zealots of the ‘June 4th revolution.

“She is still looking for the white paper” the retired soldier got teary in recounting the terrible scars of the ‘revolution’.

“I feel disappointed in being a Ghanaian”, he lamented and questioned the mentality of citizens in the face of injustice.

“Why are we so cowardly?” he wondered ahead of the release of a JoyNews documentary ‘Scars of the revolution’.