Ganilau spoke against the plans of the Qarase government to establish a Reconciliation and Unity Commission, with the power to grant amnesty to perpetrators of the 2000 coup and compensation to its victims. Ganilau first aired his opposition to the bill on 4 May 2005, saying that it was an unwarranted interference in the judicial process and represented a naïve and uncaring attitude to people who had suffered as a result of the coup. On 18 May he went further, saying that he saw ""nothing reconciliatory about the bill"" and that ""To use the word reconciliation is a gross violation of the rights of everyone in this nation.""