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The
Dilemma of Implementing the TRC Report
Sunday,
December 27. 2009
By
Harry
Papa Mason
The
final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Liberia faces a
full implementation challenge. The report itself forms the basis of promoting national peace, security, unity and reconciliation in Liberia, as
contained in the Accra Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) of August 2003, which
formally ended the 14-year Liberian civil war. But the prospects
of fully implementing the final TRC Report are very bleak considering cardinal
issues as lack of consensus among TRC commissioners; lack of prosecuting power
by the TRC; and lack of inherent legislative and judiciary powers, as well as a multitude
of competing interests and perceived biases contained in the report.
No consensus
First,
all major decisions of the TRC should have been based on consensus – that is,
all commissioners should have agreed on all controversial decision items for
recommendation - given the nature, sensitivity, and quality of information and
facts obtained from interviewees who were thought to be reasonable sources of
information because they were either a part of the Liberian civil war, or were
closer to individuals and sources who committed “gross human rights
violations” against the Liberian
people during the 14-year war.
The
high-context or relationship-based Liberian culture creates no doubt that the
commissioners themselves have some relationships with some of the players who
confessed during some of the TRC hearings. In this situation, the perceived
inherent biases of the commissioners should have been mitigated by consensus
decision making, thus eliminating the inherent authority of the TRC chairman to
make overarching decisions of the commission, which has created a serious
credibility problem for the report.
Therefore,
the chorus opposition by two of the commissioners - Sheik
Kafumba F. Konneh and Cllr. Pearl Brown Bull - alleged
that their critical inputs into the final TRC Report were
marginalized by manipulations of the chairman, creates
a very cloudy doubt that the final TRC Report will be approved in its
originality by the Liberian National Legislature for implementation.
TRC without a prosecutorial power
Second,
maybe the chairman of the TRC and his other loyal commissioners want to see that
the final TRC Report be legislatively approved in its originality. However, the
TRC lacks the authority to prosecute those found to be responsible for gross
human rights violations perpetrated against the Liberian people during the war.
Even though the Accra mandate of the TRC was to conduct confession hearings to “promote national peace, security, unity and reconciliation,” and to
make reasonable recommendations so that restorative justice can enhance
Liberia’s continued peace-building process currently initiated by the power
that be – some of whom the TRC Report recommended for prosecution.
For
instance, the competing interests in the TRC Report make it probably a difficult
challenge for Jerome Verdier – the chairman of the TRC – to be fully
credited for such a report that has been widely criticized for lack of team
consensus in agreeing on key recommendations that have skewed the report as
biased, and favored certain elements in the erstwhile Interim Government of
National Unity (IGNU) of Dr. Amos C. Sawyer. Some critics of the TRC Report have
alleged that chairman Jerome Verdier and his other loyal commissioners cleverly
manipulated the unedited TRC Report to give Dr. Amos C. Sawyer’s IGNU a soft
landing, despite critics’ allegations that the Sawyer leadership created the
unconstitutional Black Berets who fought alongside the constitutional Armed
Forces of Liberia (AFL), and masterminded the creation of
other factional groups (particularly the original ULIMO in
Sierra Leone in 1991) against Charles Taylor’s rebel National Patriotic Front
of Liberia (NPFL).
No legislative and judicial powers
And
third, the Accra Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) of August 2003, formally
ended the 14-year Liberian civil conflict, and required that (requested) the
erstwhile National Transitional
Legislative Assembly (NTLA) of the National Transitional Government of Liberia
to formally enact the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Liberia, for
the purpose of promoting national peace, security, unity and reconciliation
pivoted on restorative justice mechanism.
The current Liberian National Legislature
succeeded the NTLA in the 2005 general elections in Liberia, and has no inherent
powers as defined in the CPA to approve the prosecution of those the TRC found
to be responsible for gross human rights violations. Further, the Liberian
Judiciary cannot prosecute TRC-recommended wrongdoers, because the judiciary has
no enacted powers or laws from the Liberian National Legislature to prosecute
those report found to be guilty of human rights violations.
However, the Liberian
Independent Human Rights Commission (LIHR) – perhaps the immediate surrogate
successor of the TRC – might be charged with the responsibilities of
implementing the recommendations that are contained in the final TRC report. But
one visible dilemma is that this commission is staffed by President Ellen
Johnson-Sirleaf, whom the TRC Report recommended a 30-year exclusion from
politics.
Further,
the Liberian relationship-based politics dictates that you cannot bite the hand
that feeds you. Despite the ethics and professionalism of these LIHR
commissioners, the theory of inherent bias that engulfs all persons at some point in time will appeal to the sympathy of President
Johnson-Sirleaf (who gave me bread when I was hungry in the context of inherent
bias), thus compromising the full implementation of the final TRC Report.
Concluding comments
The final TRC Report is not exhaustive of all the major players in the
14-year Liberian civil war. But no doubt the final report forms the basis
of promoting national peace,
security, unity and reconciliation in Liberia in the context of restorative
justice. It was not only the warring factions that meted out atrocities against
the Liberian people, but also some influential non-combatant Liberians – whom
the report did not mention because of inadequate resources and cutoff time to
make public the final report - masterminded the gruesome killings of their
compatriots because of acrimonious differences in the past before the birth of
the war in December 1989. Even after the 14 years of useless warfare and
self-destruction, the Liberian political culture is still replete with past
vices of corruption, rape, sexual exploitation of adolescent girls, bigotry,
marginalization, self-interest, dishonesty, and lack of patriotism.
Further, I clearly envisage hurdles in approving
fully the final TRC Report by the Liberian National Legislature, and
implementing said report because some characters in the report found to be
recommended for prosecution are key members of the three (3) branches of
government - executive, legislative, and judicial – who will form a marriage
of convenience to either mitigate or avert their prosecution. In this case,
restorative justice, rather than retributive justice, is extremely important to
realizing the promotion of national peace, security, unity and reconciliation in
Liberia as contained in the Accra Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) of August
2003.
Recommendations
The
intricacies of Liberia’s 14-year civil war are bordered on a complex paradigm
since 1822, when settler Liberians from the United States of America and
indigenous Liberians hardly coexisted for the good of Liberia, because the
settler Liberians dominated the Liberian political landscape for more than 130
years, and created a piecemeal indigenous participation that culminated in the
1980 coup; ending an Americo-Liberian dynasty, which was followed by continued
instability when the Liberian people, in December 1989, overwhelmingly embraced
Charles Taylor’s National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), to liberate them
from the dictatorial regime of the
late indigenous President Samuel K. Doe.
In
short, a restorative justice program is the best option to promoting
national peace, security, unity and reconciliation in Liberia, as contained in
the Accra Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) of August 2003. But the employment
of retributive justice to prosecute those the final TRC found to be responsible
for gross human rights violations will definitely create a marriage of
convenience or conflict alliance among members of former warring factions at the
detriment of the Liberian peace process. Therefore, implementing the final TRC
Report with restorative justice will create a sustainable peace and national
reconciliation in Liberia for all.
Harry Papa Mason is a
substitute teacher both in the Minneapolis and Robbinsdale school districts of
Minnesota, and is a resident of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. He can be reached at
hapamajr@gmail.com or at 763-443-8774.
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