The Daily IIJ

A Liberian journalist, Stephen Siaka Binda has predicted doom for his country if government goes ahead with the implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) report. He told this reporter in an interview that such a move would create panic, hatred and bring back heartbreaking memories of the country’s 15-year civil war.

“If that report is implemented, I see my country going back to war because it is very controversial”, he further explained.

According to him, the TRC report had become controversial because 55 per cent of the Liberian population said that the TRC report should not be implemented while the remaining 45 per cent conceded to its implementation.

Again, he indicated that the names of alleged militants in the report would not be easy to be implemented since most of them form part of the ruling government led by Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. 

The TRC was established in June 2005 with the mandate of promoting national peace, security, unity and reconciliation by “investigating gross human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law as well as abuses that occurred, including massacres, sexual violations, murder, extra-judicial killings and economic crimes”. 

Meanwhile, the Liberian war which started from 1980 to 2003 by some greedy political power seekers, recorded several atrocities meted out to unarmed civilians and other human rights violations on women and children alike.

Currently, the country has a total population of 3.5 million people, out of which 85 per cent are illiterates and only 25 per cent employed. Those who are not gainfully employed, engage in some form of trade to make ends meet.   

During the period, 300,000 persons were reported dead while many others were physically deformed and rendered homeless.

“While women were raped, their male counterparts got killed with several children missing. Properties running into billions of dollars were destroyed and other movable properties looted”, Mr. Binda recounted.

Asked how the civil war had affected media practices in Liberia, he pointed out that the people no longer trusted the media because the sort of information they churned out to the public then were misleading and eventually brought about those dark days in a country which was founded in 1822.

The media, he observed disseminated diverse information from both the rebel camps and the government’s side just in a bid to secure their lives.

Journalists, he hinted now work under poor conditions as compared to those days when everything was luxurious, citing that media organizations even operate from rented offices across the country.

Mr. Binda however advised that the people ought to concentrate on re-building the country which gained independence in July 26, 1847 rather than focusing on whom to punish.

He quoted Liberians as saying “The election of Africa’s first female president, Ellen Johnson-SirLeaf is a clear manifestation that the people had forgotten about the past and want to forge ahead”.

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