THE TRUTH AND Reconciliation Commission of Liberia (TRC) gathered a group of Liberians from unspecified locations around the country last month and took them to the Unity Conference Center in Virginia , outside Monrovia . There they deliberated on the final formula for peace in Liberia for one working week. At the end of that week of deliberation and debates, by our assumption, the group came up with a report that it christened, “The Virginia Declaration”. The Declaration, to put a serious matter mildly, surprised many thinking Liberians to date. It literally confused the nation and sent analysts wondering whether the mandate of the Commission has been changed from peace seeking and the way forward to backward looking and confrontation with the past. And it sent ordinary Liberians wondering whether those who made the declaration were true Liberian citizens who lived the devastation and murderous excesses of the war that ravaged Liberia for more than a decade and left its economy in ruins.

NOT LONG AFTER that disastrous performance that begged rectification, the Commission again last week released its final report to the government of Liberia for “full” implementation – proudly exhibiting the “Virginia Declaration” as an annex heralding the will of the larger Liberian society. Not only that, the report came out disregarding the dissenting opinion of one of its learned Commissioners, Cllr. Pearl Brown-Bull, who showed ample reasons why the report’s central instruments for peace and reconciliation – prosecution, political banishment, and the exacting of reparation – can and will not stand the challenges of Liberia’s unique peace demands. First she challenged the legality of the prosecution recommendation and then diligently presented international precedence to allay any fears that by not recommending criminal prosecution, Liberia would be branded lawless and not protective of the rights of citizens who suffered human rights abuses and war excesses.

BUT THE REST of the Commission ignored Bull’s protest and reasoning and those of the silent majority of the Liberian people who simply want a chance to restart their lives. And it came up with a report that can come from no other group than an inquest or inquiry commission – a professional judicial commission often set up strictly to get the facts and make recommendations, ignoring the consequences. We do not know what has run into the minds of TRC commissioners as they drafted that which resembles an inquest report in both form and purpose, neither do we know that is running in their minds now. But one thing we can say is that we are unimpressed, ashamed, and disappointed by the TRC’s Final Report. It smacks of vindictiveness and runs against the current of the people’s hope and aspiration for the way forward. This is because it disregards their needs and desires, their security, and their happiness. It concentrates on that which will not bring immediate peace even if it were possible as the Commission thinks. We got the impression of key figures in government, in the human rights community, in professional organizations, the civil society, and other public domains. We visited and sat with ordinary Liberians in their miseries in the slums and other forgotten places in the country. What we gathered is that there is growing feelings of despair, of disappointment, and of fear within the larger population about where all this will take the nation– amongst those, who the TRC tells the nation and the international community, stand to benefit from prosecuting half of the nation.

WE ARE YET to see jubilation amongst ordinary Liberians vis-à-vis the release of a report in their favor; instead, we see exaggerated vulnerability and fear of relapse of the peace process. Ironically it is the so-called former perpetrators of violence against the people – the so-called villains of society – that are pumping up their arms, throwing up V signs, and vowing to be thorough in the next “opportunity for war”. We think what is coming is dangerous. We say so not because we fear war and reprisal, for we have known war and seen fear, but because we think it will be reckless for the nation to throw away international support in seeking that which alone will not bring peace and reconciliation. According to the chairman of the Sierra Leonean Truth Commission, it is reckless to recommend those things that are unachievable or in search of which the nation will deviate from the sure, steady path to peace.

IT IS IN this vein that while we commend the TRC for its efforts, we demand the immediate withdrawal the report to afford the Commission the opportunity to study thoroughly the application and consequences of its recommendations, vis-à-vis public concerns, and find out how those recommendations relate to existing statutes of law and the Constitution of Liberia. One does not seek justice unless one feels secure and stands at a vintage point from the felon. In negotiation, one does not ask to please be given that which one cannot manage. Liberia , it needs not be said, is not ready for the criminal prosecution of half its population even if that guarantees justice – which it obviously does not.