Accra, Dec. 19, – President John Dramani Mahama has urged Africans on the continent and across the diaspora to take ownership of their shared history and collective future.
He said durable unity between Africa and its diaspora was indispensable to dismantling the lingering effects of slavery, colonial rule and systemic injustice.
Opening the Diaspora Summit 2025 in Accra, President Mahama noted that the gathering was designed not only to revisit historical pain, but to confront its continuing impact and craft a joint path forward grounded in truth, justice and self-determination.
The Summit is being hosted at a time when global debate on reparative justice, Pan-African solidarity and structured diaspora participation has intensified.
Held under the theme, “Resetting Ghana: The Diaspora as the 17th Region”, the two-day event seeks to position the African diaspora as a critical stakeholder in Ghana’s development strategy while supporting Africa’s wider quest for redress and healing.
The President said Africa could not afford to “forget” the historic crimes that created today’s inequities, nor continue to permit others to define its narrative.
He observed that Ghana’s forts and castles, once points of departure for millions of enslaved Africans, were stark reminders that the diaspora story is inseparable from Ghana’s own history.
Many Africans forced across the Atlantic, he said, passed through Ghana’s coastline and were therefore integral to the nation’s narrative alongside those who remained and endured colonialism.
President Mahama reiterated that divisions weakening African societies—whether based on borders, ethnicity, class or geography—were deliberately constructed to maintain domination.
He called on Africans to be “more deliberate about unity than our oppressors were about division,” insisting that unity remained Africa’s greatest instrument for transformation.
He explained that reparative justice should be seen as a comprehensive agenda that exceeds financial restitution, encompassing acknowledgement of wrongdoing, institutional change, debt relief, return of looted cultural property and sustained investment in Africa’s development.
The President reaffirmed Ghana’s plan to present a motion at the United Nations General Assembly seeking recognition of the transatlantic slave trade as the greatest crime against humanity, describing the move as vital for accountability and healing.
Mr Faure Gnassingbé, President of the Council of Ministers of the Togolese Republic, said reparations constituted a forward-looking demand for justice and global stability rather than an emotional return to the past.
He said Africa was not seeking sympathy but equity, recognition and truth.
According to him, slavery and colonialism not only destroyed lives but engineered lasting imbalances in productivity, trade, technology and institutions that continue today.
Reparations, he argued, were therefore as critical to Africa’s progress as infrastructure, finance and industrialisation.
He said truth must anchor reparations and called for formal global recognition of the transatlantic slave trade as a crime against humanity.
Mr Gnassingbé described the diaspora as a strategic asset for African sovereignty, noting that Africa’s future is shaped as much in cities such as New York, London and Kingston as in Lomé, Kpalimé and Dapaong. Without harnessing the diaspora fully, he warned, Africa would forfeit one of its most powerful resources.
He further stressed that collective healing was a political necessity and that reparations could not be reduced to financial calculations alone.
Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas, African Union High Representative for Silencing the Guns, said President Mahama’s leadership had helped shift reparations from moral advocacy to an organised continental programme.
He noted that the AU had incorporated reparatory justice within long-term frameworks, including Agenda 2063, and was collaborating with experts to turn commitments into implementable actions.
Dr Ibn Chambas added that the Accra Summit reflected the AU’s belief that Africa’s prosperity is closely linked to meaningful engagement with its diaspora, whose expertise, networks and capital can accelerate development, innovation and trade.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, said recognition of the diaspora as Ghana’s 17th Region was a practical expression of Pan-Africanism and a rejection of divisions imposed by history.
He said the Summit sought to move reparations from symbolism to coordinated international action, supported by diplomacy, policy initiatives and strategic alliances.
Mr Ablakwa reiterated that Ghana’s foreign policy was anchored in solidarity, referencing the country’s peacekeeping and humanitarian record as examples of its commitment to justice and human dignity beyond its borders.
U.S. civil rights lawyer Mr Benjamin Crump said President Mahama’s message strongly resonated with diaspora communities still living with the consequences of enslavement and racial discrimination.
He said the Summit made clear that Africa and its diaspora were no longer waiting passively for justice but organising to secure it.
Mr Crump stated that reparations were essential to restoring dignity and addressing intergenerational trauma, stressing that healing must begin with truth and concrete repair.
GHBUSS
No comments:
Post a Comment