The Head of Media Reform Coordinating Group (MRCG), Dr. Francis Sowa, has warned on issues affecting Transitional Justice.
Sowa raised this concern while addressing journalists in Freetown at the opening of a training on Transitional Justice reporting, stating that if issues affecting Transitional Justice in the country are not addressed, they may haunt it back.
Sowa said though the country set-up the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) after the civil war, their augment at MRCG is that, after the post conflict period, to a very large extent, the country has not been engaging on issues around transitional justice, essential to prevent the country from going back to its dark days.
He said many of the issues that led to the war continue to linger around on a daily basis.
For instance, he said, “we have just had the Tripartite Committee Report. If you read the report of that Committee, and then look at the recommendations on the TRC on governance, you see that they share some similarities.” “So it tells us that as a nation, if we don’t address transitional justice issues, they may come back to haunt us at present and in the future,” the MRCG Boss added.
In addition to the TRC, the National Reconstruction, Resettlement and Rehabilitation; presently known as the National Commission for Social Action (NaCS), and the Special Court were among the core transitional justice mechanisms put in place to address the aftermath of Sierra Leone’s civil war and human rights abuses.
In that light, with support from Africa Transitional Justice Legacy, MRCG is training about 132 journalists across the country, equipping them with skills to keep reminding the public about what the country went through during the civil war, raise awareness about its reconciliation mechanisms and help shape how citizens understand transitional justice issues and processes in the country.
Head of MRCG Programs, Augustine James, said the TRC Report is one of the transitional justice mechanisms used in peace projects implementation in the country today. Yet, he noted the recommendations in the report are underreported.
“So that is why we want the journalists we are training to look into the TRC Report, its recommendations and how far they have been implemented.”
At the end of the training, twenty journalists would be selected, mentored and supported to report on transitional justice in the country for a one-year period, Dr. Sowa said, urging participants to take the training seriously.