By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
Three African countries with similar history of unrests as Sierra Leone shared their experiences trying to bridge their differences at the just concluded peace conference in Freetown.
The National Dialogue Forum Democratic Consolidation for Peace and National Cohesion Conference, which was held from May 23 to 25, was aimed at uniting the country which is seen as sharply divided along political, ethnic and regional lines.
The three-day event involved six sessions of deliberations on issues that divide Sierra Leone and what to do to unite it. Participants also discussed modalities for the creation of a National Peace Commission, as envisaged by President Julius Maada Bio.
A special feature of the conference was the participation of representatives from Ghana, Rwanda and Kenya who were invited to share their experiences creating similar commissions following turbulent experiences in their respective countries. They came from the National Cohesion and Integration Commission of Kenya, the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission of Rwanda and the Peace Council of Ghana.
Hassan Mohamed, Chief Executive Officer of the National Cohesion and Integration Commission of Kenya, said it’s important for Sierra Leone to know that setting up peace infrastructure takes time.
“It takes time for the commission to mature. We formed ours in 2009 and we have been building up ever since,” said Mohamed.
Kenya went through a bloody period of post-election violence in 2008.
Mohamed was speaking on the first of three sessions of the day:
‘Comparative Learning from other African Countries: Case studies of Commissions of Peace. The session was moderated by Dr Kandeh Yumkella.
Whiles talking about the need to work with existing societal structures, the Kenyan representative also urged Sierra Leoneans to make use of Paramount Chiefs to make the work of the commission successful.
“You are lucky you have a chieftaincy system. This is a structure you can build on. If you want to achieve peace, you can use the chiefs on the ground,” he said.
Chieftaincy plays a crucial role in Sierra Leone’s governance system. The country is divided into 190 chiefdoms, each headed by a Paramount Chief. Sierra Leone is also divided into 16 districts. And 14 of these districts outside the Western Area (Freetown and its environs) are represented each by a Paramount Chief in the House of Parliament.
Mohamed said Kenya is unfortunate because the chieftaincy institution is already defunct there.
“We were not so lucky. The chieftaincy system was killed by the colonial masters. They reduced their functions to tax collection and keeping law and order,” he told the audience of about 600 people.
Like Kenya, its East African neighbor Rwanda went through a similar political turmoil. The 1994 Rwandan Genocide claimed nearly one million lives, after rival factions from the two dominant ethnic groups in the country – Hutus and Tutsis – hunted each other for about four months.
Today Rwanda is regarded as a model for peace on the continent. The National Unity and Reconciliation Commission of Rwanda is part of the reason for this.
Unlike many African countries that went through political unrests,
Rwanda has rapidly moved on despite that dark history.
Fidel Ndayisaba, Executive Secretary of the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission of Rwanda, said it took Rwanda a long time, from the end of the genocide, to get to where they are today in terms of peace.
“As you know, we have taken 25 years to build peace in our country. We had the genocide in 1994 and since then our work started,” he said.
A member of the audience wanted to know how the two East African nations dealt with political interference in the commission’s work. Mohamed said it’s a possibility that the institution must be ready for.
“We cannot rule out political interference in our work. We are in Africa and these things are common. So far we have not had one, but I think it comes down to the integrity of the people who are running it.”
Political interference in the work of most public institutions in the country is not new. It is an issue that almost every participant in
the peace conference talked about.
The conference ended on Saturday with two scheduled sessions on social cohesion and the criteria to ensure peace and stability in Sierra Leone.
(c) 2019 Politico 2019
