TOGO: VITALITY OF THE TRADITIONAL MEDIATIONS IN PENAL AND CIVIL LAW
TOGO: VITALITY OF THE TRADITIONAL MEDIATIONS IN PENAL AND CIVIL LAW
THE FOLLOWING MINUTES RELATE TO A CONFLICT SETTLED BY A TRADITIONAL CHIEF OF THE MINA IN TOGO.
“MINUTES OF CONCILIATION (term used by the secretary of King Lawson)
In the matter of the assault and battery having caused the death of the named Lawson Latégan on February 16 2005, in the Bè District of Lomé.
Following a complaint made by the Lawson Monor family against the presumed authors; Mr. Danku Guy, Lawson, Teyi, Alawoe Kossi were arrested and remanded to the civil prison of Lomé upon the direction of the judge.
The family of the deceased and those of the authors of the crime are all from the Lolan Kingdom. Therefore, the parents of the accused seized His Majesty Lawson VIII. The latter received both parties in his Palace of Lolan on July 29, 2005.
At the hearing of both parties, a compromise was reached:
Present a request of withdrawal of the body of the deceased from the morgue in Lomé for his burial
Participation of the accused families in the cost of the funeral in an amount of 300,000 CFA francs
Meeting after the funeral of Lawson Latégan in order to discuss the indemnification claim by the mother and the wife of the deceased.
This meeting occurred on this day December 9, 2005 at the Royal Palace of Lolan in the presence of King Lawson VIII surrounded by his retinue.
Following the report presented by both parties, each party respected the commitment made before the King on July 29, 2005 with respect to the organization of the funeral of Latégan. With respect to the indemnification, both parties agreed as follows:
Meet before the King to finalize the decisions taken, namely:
-The immediate payment of a sum of 150,000 F CFA from the accused families to the family of the victim
-Present a request to the judge for the release of the three prisoners
-A second payment in the amount of 200,000 F CFA in April 2006; the total amount paid by the families of the accused will then total 650,000 F CFA; other payments will follow…
-Thereafter, both parties will always be together to ensure the education and the maintenance of the orphans which number nine children.
The King was pleased with the proper unfolding of the funeral and the new arrangements that have been taken to indemnify the family of the deceased. He underscored, for the benefit of both parties that, more than the money, what was important was the fact that the two work together to ensure a good education for the orphans. Both parties took firm undertakings before the King to scrupulously respect the decisions taken and, as soon as possible, to take together the steps, with respect to the judicial authorities, to obtain the freedom of the prisoners.
The first payment of an amount of 150,000F CFA was immediately made before the King.
Secretariat of King Lawson VIII of Aného
The question to be asked is the following:
How is such an intervention by the King possible? What is the place of the State?
Two systems of justice cohabit in Togo. There is the modern justice imported during the colonization and the traditional justice particular to the Ewe culture and dispensed by the traditional Chiefs.
It is important to know that the traditional Chiefs are the guarantors of the usages and customs. They have settled conflicts within the society from pre-colonial times to today. This practice has survived the foreign occupation since, at the moment of the independence of Togo, the Civil Code legalized the law of traditional successions.
The Chiefs ensure the survival of ancestral values. The Chief exercises also a role of maintenance of peace and facilitation everywhere he is solicited. Since the colonization, administrative responsibilities have been added to their role of protection and valorization of customs. The Chief is seen as an administrative representative who plays an intermediary role between the government and the population. The Chief is the supreme head of the society after the government.
The traditional Chief is appointed by presidential decree.
He is the one who brings together the administration and the citizens. He guarantees the traditional values, ensures the prerogatives and the obligations between the State and the district or village.
He watches over the harmony and social cohesion. Following the custom, he has the power of arbitration and conciliation of the parties. He is consulted by the administrative authorities on the questions of local development, environment, health of the population, education and finally real estate. He receives and executes the instructions of the administrative authorities of the State
It is the place of expression of traditional power. One plunges in the cultural representations, the beliefs of a people, the memory of the ancestors. In a kodzo, one is far from civilization. One faces a mystical institution, a customary authority, an ancestral power with a history that goes back a long time, its rules, its wisdom. One faces a world known and unknown at the same time, a mystery.
Their role permits to ascertain more fully the characteristics of the social regulation proper to the Ewe people.
What is meant by the traditional power of the Chief?
THE AUTHORITY OF THE TRADITIONAL CHIEF
He represents the ancestors. In the example of King Lawson, he manages his people as his own family, the dirty linen is washed in the family. The tribunal is the foreigner. He represents the traditional authority and all the wisdom of the culture. He is respected and imposes himself.
He is the only one to have the right to raise his voice while it is recommended to the opponents to remain sober and to control themselves. It is a force and an authority accompanied by courtesy and much consideration even though it is necessary to show a good example. It is necessary to obey, if not the sanction falls and it is not desirable to stoke the ire of the ancestors as one does not know to what extent they may go! Therefore, it is always necessary to beg forgiveness. Even before expressing an idea, one begs forgiveness for the harm that one could eventually cause.
SANCTIONS AND REPARATIONS FOR MATTERS RELATING TO PENAL LAW
In the Ewé and Mina custom and wisdom, the aim of the objective, in the case of offences, is not to punish but to repair the harm. One does not punish but educate. There is a total absence of cruelty. One responds to evil by good, in order to contribute to the edification of the personality of the person.
At the center of the preoccupations: truth, reconciliation, but also reparation and rehabilitation. The idea is that the faults are always shared, both parties must learn from the situation. Even in the situation of a crime, the victim, in interaction with the aggressor, has necessarily played a role. All is linked and overlaps. The aggressor may pay a very symbolic fine in the culture.
The family heads attempt to really settle the problem in the spirit that transcends the conflict: reconciliation, maintenance of the cohesion.
REPARATIONS AND RITUALS OF RECONCILIATION FOR MATTERS RELATING TO CIVIL LAW AND CUSTOMARY AFFAIRS
According to the Chiefs, a conflict can be settled many ways: invite the parties, listen to them, after analysis of the information, if they are offences according to modern law, transfer them to a judicial institution.
If it is a civil conflict, relations between the parties, the family, between client and businessmen, the reconciliation is the principal objective in order to maintain the unity of the group, harmony in the group They lead conciliation and traditional ceremonies to hush and terminate the problem in unity. Certain subjects cannot be treated by the tribunal such as sorcery, refusal of paternity, abortion, humiliation.
RECONCILIATION
The “Si Tu Tu” is an act of reconciliation after the settlement of a family or professional conflict, to erase the bad words and curses and begin a new relationship.
This mending, edifying and educational dimension can constitute the contribution of kodzo to occidental justice.
CONCLUSION
The method used by the Chiefs in the resolution of conflicts is a hybrid method which include, at one and the same time, the ancient practices which are the judgment founded on custom and on human rights, modern Law and finally, reconciliation. From a preoccupation of equity, there is more and more, nowadays, a preoccupation of equality, the right of the person to the detriment of the right of the group.
It is important to remind both the Africans and Europeans, of the return and the maintenance of human values in our societies, if we hope to conserve a minimum of pacifism in this world and in the phenomenon of globalization. I quote Eric Julien, (2007) 1 in his article, who states that the traditional peoples practice sustainable development since all times. At the Earth Summit in Rio, indigenous people were present who delivered this message: “We, indigenous people, can help you on the road of sustainable development. But you must understand, to begin with, that is not the development that must be sustainable, but humanity and nature”.
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1 TVG Magazine, No 93, Les sociétés traditionnelles peuvent-elles éclairer les impasses de notre temps? April 2007
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