The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has kicked against the National Reconciliation Bill, which was recently passed by Parliament, contending that it is fundamentally flawed and totally incapable of achieving national reconciliation for the people of Ghana.

The party has, therefore, petitioned President J. A. Kufuor to take a second look at the bill before giving his assent, since in the party's view the bill threatens to divide Ghanaians as it goes contrary to the popular will.

In a press statement signed and issued by Alhaji Huudu Yahaya, General Secretary, in Accra last Tuesday, the National Executive Committee of the party said it was convinced that to avoid the spectre of the nation's negative past haunting the people and adversely affecting national unity and coherence, the reconciliation effort should seek to address past abuses on the basis of understanding, not vengeance.

"The process should be holistic and not desegregated and selective. It should encourage reparation and not retaliation in order to promote lasting unity and forge national consensus," it stated.

According to the statement, the view of the party has always been that the best framework for a sustainable, genuine and sincere reconciliation for the nation is one that is extensive, inclusive, transparent, participatory, non-retributive and incorporates bipartisan political support.

The statement drew attention to public hearings on the National Reconciliation Bill on issues relating to the mandate, time-frame, composition and selection process of the members of the Commission and the powers of the Commission vis?-a-vis the rights, liberties and privileges of witnesses appearing before it or persons affected by the findings of the Commission.

The Party's position also informed and guided the amendments which the minority group in Parliament proposed to the National Reconciliation Bill, stating that the intendment of those amendments were to achieve the following effects:

(a) extension of the time mandate from 6th March, 1957 to 6th January, 1993 (or to the eve of the inauguration of the Commission, if that was preferred).

In doing so the Minority Group in Parliament was guided by the sentiments and widespread support for this view by many well-meaning Ghanaians, citizens, religious and civil society groups such as the Catholic Bishops Conference, Anglican Conference, the Ghana National Assouation-of Teachers, the Northern Region House of Chiefs, to mention but a few.

It was also noted that it was the consensus of participants at a high profile international conference on national reconciliation in Ghana, organized and sponsored by the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development in conjunction with Civil Society Coalition and Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA).

This was on June 20-21, 2001 at M Plaza, Accra. Section 9 of the Conference Declaration was in the following terms:

"The time frame for examining cases of abuses and injustice should not be too restrictive to be construed as overly selective and targeting people.

It was agreed that the time frame for the Commissions work should be from March 6, 1957 to 6th January, 1993."

(b) the Minority Group also proposed amendments on the selection process which it was felt should be more participatory, inclusive and consultative - a process that included a role for Parliament and civil society which would contribute to the legitimacy, credibility and independence of the Commission and assure broader interest, ownership and consensus regarding the mandate of the Commission.

(c) amendments were also proposed by the Minority Group in Parliament on the powers of the Commission to ensure that the fundamental human rights of citizens as guaranteed under our Constitution are not violated by the wide powers of the Commission and that witnesses appearing before the Commission or persons against whom adverse findings may be made are given the same protection and safeguards as are applicable to Commissions apponted under Chapter 23 of the Constitution.

The party statement noted that the Majority in Parliament, totally disregarding the peculiar character of the Bill as a national reconciliation bill, determined to side-step the popular will of the Ghanaian people, contemptuous of the opinion of national and international experts on reconciliation and transitional justice decided to subvert the very pristine principles upon which reconciliation is based.

It was in these circumstances, the executive committee observed, that the Minority Group staged a walk?out preferring not to be part of a process that is so flawed as to amount to a veritable subversion of the constitutional notion of sovereignty of the people.

"The Bill was subsequently passed without the participation of the Minority Group and passed with all its inelegancies and flaws," it added.

The National Executive Committee is convinced that the National Reconciliation Bill as passed is fundamentally flawed and totally incapable of achieving national reconciliation for the people of Ghana.

The National Executive Committee is further convinced that in order to avoid the spectre of our negative past haunting us and adversely affecting our national unity and coherence, our national reconciliation effort should seek to address past abuses on the basis of understanding but not vengeance

"The process should be holistic and not disaggregated and selective. It should encourage reparation and not retaliation in order to promote lasting unity and forge national consensus."

To this end the Party has petitioned His Excellency the President not to assent to the Bill in its present state but to allow further consideration and accommodation in the lee ways provided by our Constitution.

"In acceding to the request the President will not only be demonstrating mature statesmanship but will also be reaffirming our nation's confidence in and adherence to our national declared values of freedom and justice," the statement concluded.