What the
TRNUC means for our nation
It is simply
the most important event for our country at this moment, with a profound
significance for our future.
The TRNUC
(Truth, Reconciliation and National Unity Commission) is reaching back into our
past and and setting the record straight about what happened in our country. Since
it began work last year, the TRNUC has heard from victims, witnesses and perpetrators
in relation to the coup d’etat of 1977 and its aftermath and consequences.
The TRNUC is
not an easy undertaking. Confronting a painful past is not a smooth and
pleasant journey, and many have said that it should have been left alone. But
this would never have done.
In the past
few months we have heard many harrowing tales, among them the stories of the people
depicted in our photos here, Brian Victor in relation to the deaths of Sonny
Elizabeth and Michael Hoffman, and the family of Marjorie Baker in respect of
her murder.
In doing its
work, the TRNUC is giving the victims of past injustices a voice which they
have long been denied and some solace that at last they have been relieved of
the burden of keeping their pain to themselves. This service to the victims is
the first and foremost consideration because it fulfills a vital need for
justice. No matter what the difficulties, the cause of truth and justice comes
first.
In
documenting the events of the past and gving our nation the opportunity to
reflect on them, the TRNUC is delivering a vital lesson in how to govern.
Simply everyone involved in or with the poitical process, which means every
citizen, must learn from it. The lesson is that power is only right when it is
legitimate and used within the law to serve people equally. It is not to be
exercised for its own sake or for personal ends.
The
revelations of the TRNUC mean that the history of our country for the past five
decades has been made safe – it will not to prone to falsification and
distortion.
We also believe
that the truth will permit reconciliation and national unity. This has started
but much lies ahead. Not everything is sure and certain because the outcome of the
work of the commission, its actions and recommendations, are yet to be known.
What will it take to deliver full justice? What kind of reparations will be
possible? What will happen to the perpetrators?
There are
many doubts and uncertainties but there is no way forward except the truth.
