By Abass M Yatara
Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Alpha Sesay Esq., has called for a renewed national commitment to the full implementation of the recommendations of Sierra Leone’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), declaring that the country’s peace, justice and democratic future depend on confronting the legacy of the civil war with honesty, accountability and decisive action.
Speaking at the Review Meeting on the Implementation of the TRC Recommendations, held at the Conference Room of the Ministry of Defence, Tower Hill, Freetown, on Tuesday, 14 July 2026, the Attorney General delivered a deeply personal keynote address, departing from the traditional style of official government speeches by recounting his own experience as a survivor of Sierra Leone’s civil war.
“I want to begin not as the Attorney General, but as a Sierra Leonean,” he told participants, recalling how he was internally displaced during the conflict, lost loved ones, and later dedicated his legal career to advancing human rights, transitional justice, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and the Special Court for Sierra Leone.
His remarks set a reflective tone for the meeting, underscoring that the implementation of the TRC recommendations is not merely a bureaucratic obligation but a moral responsibility owed to victims, survivors and future generations.
“The question of whether those recommendations are being implemented is not, for me, an administrative question,” he emphasised.
The Attorney General described the Truth and Reconciliation Commission as one of Sierra Leone’s most significant post-war institutions, noting that its landmark report, Witness to Truth, documented the atrocities committed during the civil war while providing a comprehensive roadmap for national healing through institutional reform, reparations, good governance, justice and the protection of vulnerable groups, particularly women and children.
While acknowledging the significant progress Sierra Leone has made since the end of the conflict—including the establishment of the Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone, important legislative reforms and accountability measures through the Special Court for Sierra Leone—Mr. Sesay said implementation of the Commission’s recommendations has remained uneven and incomplete.
He observed that some of the most critical recommendations, particularly those relating to reparations for victims and reforms of governance institutions, have yet to be fully realised more than two decades after the war ended.
“The reparations programme has never been fully resourced or operationalised at the scale the report envisioned,” he said, adding that many of the institutions responsible for implementing the recommendations have failed to provide sufficient information to enable effective monitoring of national progress.
As the Government’s principal legal adviser, Mr. Sesay reaffirmed the Ministry of Justice’s determination to accelerate the implementation of legislative reforms arising from the TRC Report.
He announced that the Office of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice will undertake a comprehensive review of all legislative recommendations contained in the Commission’s report and publicly report on their implementation status as part of the ongoing national review process.
The Attorney General further pledged that his Office would work closely with the Independent Commission for Peace and National Cohesion (ICPNC) in fulfilling its statutory mandate to monitor and promote implementation of the TRC recommendations across government institutions.
Drawing a direct connection between the Truth and Reconciliation process and Sierra Leone’s ongoing constitutional review, Mr. Sesay argued that both initiatives are rooted in the shared objective of addressing the governance failures, exclusion, impunity and institutional weaknesses that fuelled the country’s devastating civil war.
“The new Constitution we are building must respond to those findings,” he declared. “The TRC’s recommendations are not historical footnotes. They are a blueprint.”
The Attorney General challenged all stakeholders to move beyond expressions of commitment and embrace genuine accountability through three guiding principles.
First, he called for honesty in reporting progress, cautioning institutions against overstating achievements or concealing persistent shortcomings.
Second, he urged institutions to adopt specific, measurable and time-bound commitments capable of producing tangible results rather than broad declarations of support.
Third, he stressed the importance of sustained participation in the implementation process, warning that failure to engage meaningfully in accountability efforts weakens public confidence and undermines national reconciliation.
He reminded participants that the success of the TRC process ultimately depends on the willingness of every institution to translate recommendations into practical reforms that strengthen governance, promote justice and prevent a recurrence of the conditions that led to conflict.
Concluding his address, Alpha Sesay Esq. returned to the voices of victims and survivors whose testimonies formed the foundation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s work.
“We owe them more than good intentions. We owe them action,” he declared, stressing that Sierra Leone also owes future generations institutions that have genuinely learned from the country’s painful past.
Referencing the title of the Commission’s historic report, Witness to Truth, the Attorney General concluded with a powerful appeal for renewed national resolve.
“The TRC called its final report Witness to Truth. Let this meeting, and the updated report it produces, be witness to action.”
His remarks were widely viewed as a renewed call for government institutions, civil society organisations, development partners and citizens to recommit themselves to completing the unfinished work of post-war reconciliation, ensuring that justice, accountability and institutional reform remain central to Sierra Leone’s democratic development.
