President John Mahama has renewed Africa’s demand for reparative justice, insisting that the continent has reached a point where forgetting the past is no longer an option.
Speaking at the opening of the Diaspora Summit 2025 on December 19, he said Africa is at “a very pivotal place” in its journey and cannot afford to move backwards or pretend the past never happened.
He warned against what he described as attempts to force Africa into “some sort of amnesia” about “the blood that was spilled, the lives that were lost and the years that were sacrificed” in the fight for freedom.
According to him, the moment makes forgetting impossible, primarily when people of African descent are described as “garbage and filth,” African countries are labelled “shitholes,” and people who look like Africans are stripped of the citizenship they have earned.
President Mahama said this reality leaves Africa with no choice but to confront racism and discrimination directly.
He stressed that this is not a time for excuses or silence, but a time to speak clearly and reclaim what was lost. He described the moment as one that demands clarity about both Africa’s losses and its aspirations.
He announced that Ghana will take a major step on the global stage, revealing that at the United Nations General Assembly this year, he served notice that Ghana will move a motion next year to recognise the transatlantic slave trade as “the greatest crime against humanity.”
He said he expects the motion to enjoy full support from Africa and the diaspora.
President Mahama said Africa has endured slavery, colonialism, genocide and apartheid, and these crimes must be acknowledged.
He declared that Africa demands the creation of legal, institutional and international mechanisms to advance reparative justice.
He was clear on what reparations must involve. They must include “tangible measures such as debt cancellation, monetary compensation, return of stolen artefacts, institutional reform and transformative economic redress in the global economic system.”
He added that the damage to Africa goes beyond material loss. He pointed to the emotional cost and referenced studies on epigenetics, noting that trauma can be passed down through generations.
The President asked what impact centuries of trauma, combined with present-day injustices, have on the health of Africans and their children, and how healing can truly begin.
Looking to the future, President Mahama said Africa must choose how it responds to its history. He reminded the audience that “the future is African,” repeating the phrase for emphasis.
He said Africans hold the power to change the circumstances of their past but must be more intentional about unity than their oppressors were about division.
President Mahama ended on a note of confidence, saying that with a united Africa and diaspora, “there is nothing we cannot achieve.”
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