Snapshots of Ghana's Contested Restorative Justice Programme.

The article focuses on Ghana's National Reconciliation Commission (NRC), established under President John Agyekum Kufuor (2000–2008) to address past human rights violations through a restorative justice approach combining truth-telling and reparations, while avoiding prosecutions. It examines the government's implementation of preliminary reparations—such as de-confiscations, exhumations, reburials, and the removal of coup-related public holidays—as culturally and socially significant measures aimed at fostering public confidence in reconciliation. The article also analyzes witness protection provisions in the NRC Act designed to encourage testimony, highlighting their mixed effectiveness, and explores how some military coup perpetrators justified their actions by viewing themselves as national saviours, which contributed to their contestation of impunity and skepticism toward the Commission. Finally, it discusses the government's avoidance of prosecutions due to national security concerns and constitutional indemnities shielding former coup leaders, situating these factors within Ghana's complex political and military history.