|
The
truth shall set them free?
Sunday,
July 02, 2006
By Tewroh-Wehtoe Sungbeh
The Truth
and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), is officially up
and running after months of
indecision on the part of the Johnson-Sirleaf
administration, as to whether the commission was ever
going to get off the ground.
The reasons why the commission couldn’t get
off the ground as quickly as some had expected could
perhaps be financial, or because of the alleged
involvement of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who,
together with other key Liberians were implicated last year
during the elections by former Taylor aide, Jucontee Thomas
Woewiyu, as agitators and financiers of a civil war
that destroyed our country and killed countless
Liberians.
Pres.
Sirleaf (center, in yellow) is surrounded by members
of the TRC
The commission did get off the ground on June
22, to jubilation, photo-ops, speeches and
orchestrated ceremonies held in the country’s 15
political subdivisions as a way to get the entire
country involved.
The feel-good propaganda was a public relations
victory for the government and the politically
connected and powerful former warlords, who are more
than elated to have this going their way, which is a
prelude to rehabilitation and acceptance into the
mainstream Liberian society.
It is unfortunate to mention that the launching
did not ease my anxiety but fueled my suspicion when
planners of the charade ignored the victims in terms
of restitution and prosecution, when justice was
substituted for a painless and laughable concept
intended to exonerate key players; while it mocks the
pain and suffering the Liberian people endured for
many years during the civil war when they were either
raped, killed or held as hostages and slaves in their
own country.
I am not for Truth and Reconciliation because
it is cheap and cowardly, and is not intended as a way
to find an honest and lasting solution to our problem
and heal the rift in society,
but a band-aid intended to stop the bleeding
temporarily.
Because after this is all over, the helpless
and poor victims united in their collective
pains, and feeling let-down by their government will go
back once again to nursing their wounds quietly, while
their tormentors, all of whom will surely be free from
prosecution will travel abroad as usual and live
happily thereafter, or will remain in Liberia to
position themselves for future political campaigns.
Jerome Verdier, who is chairman of the Truth
and Reconciliation Commission, remarked that the
purpose of his group is “to find out the truth of
the past and establish a firm basis for reconciliation
and lasting peace and development in Liberia.”
I don’t want to believe Liberians ever
dreamed of the day when their tormentors would be
asked to sit before a panel of moral arbiters to
confess their evil doings so that the “judges”
will decide whether to reconcile, and not prosecute
the psychopathic killers who changed their lives
forever in the most drastic ways.
How can there be truth and reconciliation, and
not restitution and prosecution when those who
violated their brethren in the most unspeakable terms
have not been remorseful for their crimes?
Because from what I was taught when I was
growing up, one can be forgiven for his wrongdoings only when that person feels that they violated another
human being, and deeply regrets what they did to that
person.
That can mean saying “sorry-ya” our
Liberian way, or “I am very sorry for the pain and
suffering I’ve caused you, your family and the
Liberian nation.”
However, the individuals or groups in question
have not said anything to anyone or the nation about
what they’ve done.
Instead, they are arrogant and unrepentant, as
some even ran as independent candidates in the last
elections, while others took upon themselves and
organized political parties to run for congress and
the presidency as if the Liberian people are
desperate and in short supply of credible and
competent leaders to govern them.
Truth and Reconciliation, or restitution and
prosecution can be seriously reconciled only when the
tormentor has respect for the other party, and are
genuinely remorseful of their crimes.
But this cannot be forced on the people who are
already hurting just to protect the killers,
financiers of the civil war, hoodlums, rapists and
their co-conspirators, who will actually get away with
crimes against humanity because of the need to let
bygone be bygone.
This is happening at a time when the chief
warlord and violator of human rights, the former
president Charles Taylor is scheduled to face war
crimes trial anytime soon in Europe.
Liberians who went through hell during the war
of convenience are barely back to normalcy because of
the enormous financial and psychological struggles
they must face daily to survive. These people want
some kind of restitution for pain and suffering, and
for losing their homes and families.
Restitution will put them back on their feet
and focuses them on contributing to the rebuilding of
the new Liberia; while prosecuting the warlords and
their co-conspirators will at least bring some closure
to the tattered lives of their victims.
This will also serve as a reminder that the
living victims got justice not only for themselves,
but also for the senseless loss of their friends,
neighbors and
relatives, and the total destruction of their
properties.
Truth plus reconciliation are only temporary
solutions that will leave painful scars all over the
victims.
This is not about seeking justice, but a clever attempt to
exonerate the influential warlords and the politically
powerful in and out of the country.
|
