Accra, Dec. 19, – Renowned United States civil rights lawyer and social justice advocate, Mr Benjamin Crump, has applauded President John Dramani Mahama for demonstrating what he described as rare, courageous, and principled moral leadership in the global push for reparative justice.
Speaking at the opening of the Diaspora Summit 2025 in Accra, Mr Crump said Ghana had provided an example to the world of what committed leadership should look like in advancing historical and reparative justice at the international level. He noted that President Mahama’s strong advocacy had brought clarity and urgency to the issue at a time when many world leaders had chosen silence or denial.
The two-day Diaspora Summit, being hosted under the theme: “Resetting Ghana: The Diaspora as the 17th Region,” seeks to reposition the African diaspora as a key partner in Ghana’s development agenda, while deepening Pan-African solidarity and collective action for justice and healing.
Mr Crump said Ghana’s stance had moved the conversation on reparations from the margins into mainstream global dialogue. He referenced President Mahama’s recent address to the United Nations General Assembly, where Ghana signaled its intention to sponsor a motion recognising the transatlantic slave trade as the greatest crime against humanity.
Mr Crump, who has represented the families of victims of racial injustice in several high-profile cases in the United States, said his presence in Ghana was deeply personal. He described himself as family rather than a guest, noting that he carried within him the history and memory of Africans who endured the horrors of the slave trade.
He recounted a visit to the Cape Coast Castle, where he walked through the dungeons and along the paths trod by enslaved Africans, and stood before the “Door of No Return”. Unlike his ancestors, he said, he had been able to walk back through the “Door of Return” and be welcomed home, calling the moment not symbolic but profoundly truthful.
According to him, reparations are neither charity nor symbolic gestures but a moral and legal obligation arising from centuries of stolen labour, resources, land, lives, and futures. He stressed that reconciliation without repair is incomplete, and genuine healing is impossible without truth.
He said the Diaspora Summit represented a turning point at which Africa and its diaspora were no longer simply waiting for justice but were organising collectively to claim it. He pledged his continued advocacy for reparative justice for Africans and people of African descent across the world.
Responding to his remarks, President Mahama said Mr Crump’s message spoke directly to the wider purpose of the Summit, which is to reclaim Africa’s narrative and restore dignity to its peoples.
He said the story of Africa had too often been told by others, leaving out the voices of those who suffered its greatest injustices. Ghana’s forts and castles, he noted, remain stark reminders of that shared history, as millions of Africans were taken through the country’s shores into enslavement. He described the Atlantic Ocean as a vast burial ground for African ancestors and said Africa could not afford to forget that past.
President Mahama observed that divisions across the continent—whether through colonial borders, ethnicity, class, or stereotypes—were deliberately engineered to maintain control. He urged Africans and the diaspora to commit to unity with the same intentionality with which those divisions were created.
He explained that reparative justice extends beyond monetary compensation to include formal acknowledgement of wrongdoing, institutional reforms, debt cancellation, the return of stolen cultural artefacts, and transformative investment. He also highlighted the enduring intergenerational trauma caused by slavery and colonialism and underscored the need for healing and reconciliation.
Mr Faure Gnassingbé, President of the Council of Ministers of Togo, described the Summit as forward-looking and transformative. He said the reparations movement is not intended to reopen past wounds, but to correct systemic injustices that continue to shape the global order to Africa’s disadvantage.
He noted that slavery and colonisation entrenched global inequalities in productivity, trade, and technology that remain evident today; reparations, therefore, are essential to Africa’s development and global stability. He also identified the diaspora as a strategic force for African sovereignty and called for joint Africa–diaspora mechanisms to mobilise resources, expertise, and influence for development and justice.
Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas, African Union High Representative for “Silencing the Guns,” said the AU had taken concrete steps to institutionalise reparative justice within its governance and development frameworks. He said the Accra Summit was aligned with broader AU initiatives, including Africa–Caribbean cooperation and structured diaspora engagement, and emphasised that reparations must be transformative and intergenerational, with a focus on youth.
GHBUSS
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