The Chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Rt. Rev. Bishop J.C. Humper has said in Freetown that “Gaddafi is playing politics to compensate us.”
Bishop Humper made this statement in an exclusive interview with Awoko after he was asked whether there is any possibility for the Libyan Government led by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi to comply with the TRC recommendation by giving material compensation to Sierra Leone for the mayhem inflicted on its citizens as a result of Libya’s involvement in the rebel war.
In his response, the retired Bishop said “I will not expect President Gaddafi a veteran matured and crafty politician to come out and say I am compensating you otherwise he will be putting himself into a cage wherein government will come to him and say we need this quantum of compensation.”
He went on “Gaddafi has not been coming here for fun but to give compensation using politics to booster his image”
The well respected Bishop suggested that it would have been better if Sierra Leone had earlier on confronted the Libyan leader to ask him for a quantum of compensation as the British have done in the case of families that lost their relatives during the IRA bombing.
He maintained “I don’t think we will fall in the category of Britain who are now making representation to Libya for compensation” adding that “It is too late for us to engage him now for compensation because he has begun doing it and we have accepted it”.
Bishop Humper went on to explain that Gaddafi has already started rebuilding his image in the country through politics in the name of Africa Unity by building a beautiful Mosque to compensate for those Mosques that were destroyed during the war and has also made series of material and financial donations to the country.
He added that the Libyan leader has even complemented those donations with two state visits to Sierra Leone under two different presidents.
However Bishop Humper maintained that no amount of compensation or even reparation will be enough to heal the wounds of all those who suffered the brunt of the civil war, though he noted that compensation is necessary for wrongs done and atrocities meted out to people.
The TRC Chairman lamented that the two governments the country has had after the war have not done much to implement the reparation prograame which is intended to restore the dignity of individuals and the cleansing of some sacred bushes and traditions that were desecrated during the course of the war.
The TRC boss urged government to put more funds into the reparations programme and try to adhere to recommendations that were made by the TRC report particularly those that are focused on youth employment and the establishment of the war wounded fund to cater for
By William Freeman