Transitional Justice: Its Relevance for African Development

Abstract

The development of any nation depends on how justice and its relations to equality and peace are handled. Justice centres on giving each person or group of people his or her due. The three concepts-justice, equality and peace are necessary for the building of a nation. It is believed that unaddressed past legacies actually ginger conflicts and the idea of transitional justice is both backward and forward looking. Transitional justice is a notion which paves ways for social transformation and rests on the ground that societies need to confront the past and move on thereby promoting the possibilities of peace, equality, reconciliation and democracy. There is a need for the African countries to confront their past of mass violence for proper transformation. The paper examines the idea of transitional justice as a condition for development in Africa and to argue in conclusion that it promotes deliberative democracy.