Can Ghana Help Us Create the Africa We Want with the Hosting of the Africa Transitional Justice Legacy Fund in Accra?

As if I don't have enough African Union issues to manage (African Peer Review Mechanism; African Continental Free Trade Area; Agenda 2063) for which processes I am privileged to be involved in, but this latest -- the African Union's Transitional Justice Policy touches me personally.

Before making noise on #AfCFTA, I was working behind the scenes seeking to promote peace and security dynamics through the optics of Ecowas -- mostly in my private capacity as an independent ECOWAS & AU Policy Analyst at Ecowas Business News. My pet project has always been the ECOWAS intervention in Liberia in 1990-1997 under ECOMOG. I joke that I should be able to recite the key moments of the conflict, including the protagonists who helped bring closure to the conflict...in my sleep. That's how goofy I can be!

The latest project, #EcowaSadcSynergies is a redemption of the immense passion I have for the comparative in the field of regional integration, and only goes to buttress the passion for all things continental and regional.

AUTJP is a peace and security mechanism at the continental level that helps guide the AU member States that are emerging from violent conflict, war and repressive governance. It proffers guidelines on how to approach and entrench accountability, truth, justice and reconciliation "in the aftermath of gross human rights."

While more AU Member States are democratic, there remain patches of repressive governance we all know of. The extent to which AUTJF will help unpack how those patches can be tackled -- whether it be in Cameroon; Chad; Equatorial Guinea, or any other country we know of -- is moot.

Enhanced democratic governance notwithstanding, that there remain countries with repressive governance on the continent means that transitional justice will be pivotal, and so will the AUTJP.

I am happy to find out that the IDEG Ghana is hosting the Secretariat of the Africa Transitional Justice Legacy Fund (ATJLF). I couldn't think of more appropriate Ghanaian institution to host this Fund. Their pedigree on facilitating conversations on Ghana's democratic governance is without question.

This meeting today is a first for Ghana, being one of the first West African countries to host a regional meeting on the AU Transitional Justice Policy. That Ghana is a relatively stable country should not foreclose the attention needed by Ghana on this AU policy.

The idea behind this meeting is for the African Union, together with the Africa Transitional Justice Legacy FUnd (ATLJF), with support from the MacArthur Foundation, help promote the effective implementation of the policy in the sub-region.

A similar exercise will be held in the remaining four regions to ensure actual implementation across the Continent.

Speaking at the event, the Head of the Africa Transitional Justice Legacy Fund (ATJLF), Makmid Kamara, was emphatic that Africa does not need to adopt the western model of transitional justice, and hence the policy has sought to promote Afro-centric approaches to transitional justice.

For his part, two approaches have been adopted to ensure the aspirations of the policy are achieved including the award of grants and partnerships.

“We shall be giving grants to Civil Society Organizations, survivor groups and victim centers and NGOs who want to complement the efforts of governments in ensuring that they promote justice and accountability that we implement and adopt transformational and reparation initiatives, and for those who can contribute to institutional strengthening and creating that enabling environment for societies to live in peace, development and democracy,” he said.

The Representative of the African Union Commission, H.E Ambassador Minata Samate Cessouma, in a speech read on her behalf, indicated that there was the need to advance the frontiers of the AUTJ policy because an adopted policy is a mere piece of paper which will amount to nothing if the provisions and the guidelines are not domesticated and implemented accordingly.

“There is the need to redirect our efforts towards three very important aspects of the AUTJP, namely; (a) the popularization of the policy, (b) its effective domestication and implementation and (c) close monitoring and evaluation of the results of its implementation in conflict prevention, management and resolution across the African continent,” she said.

For his part, the ECOWAS Commission representative, Emmanuel Okurodudu, expressed the hope that some of the impediments which have been impeding justice and forgiveness during transitions would give way for lasting peace to prevail with the adoption and implementation of the policy.

He said, “The rationale is that the transitional justice activities will address the root causes of conflict and contribute to the creation of sustainable peace, accountability, social justice, and transformative democratic and socioeconomic reforms without losing track of those shared values of justice, non-impunity, reconciliation, human and peoples’ rights, as elaborated in various AU instruments.”

A Chief State Attorney from Ghana’s Attorney General’s Department, William Kpobi, who represented the government of Ghana at the meeting, emphasized the need to handle with care, the difficulties which often undermined peace processes during transitional periods.

“The issue that comes up is whether to break with the past and start anew or to embody the past in the present in an acceptable or reconciliatory manner. Abuses of the past cannot be wished away. It must be confronted and dealt with to bring peace and harmony. It is only by so doing that the way forward can be peaceful,” he said.

Way forward

Ghanaian media, generally, does not take too kindly to matters concerning the African Union as much as they do for the regional, so the task ahead is huge for people like myself who double as media practitioners and closet-academics on regional integration. Ghanaian politics is interesting, but it can be suffocating when other issues outside this beautiful country are calling for our attention. When we have an AU and an ECOWAS in our midst, we really need to get serious on unpacking and demystifying some of their policies -- no matter how complex -- that can only help us create #TheAfricaWeWant