President Akufo-Addo’s Bold Stand on Reparations
The “Accra Reparations Conference” was a gathering of leaders from various sectors, including academia, legal experts, and civil society organizations, to discuss historical injustices spanning the slave trade era, segregation, colonialism, apartheid, neo-colonialism, and neo-liberalism. The conference aimed to address the impact of slavery, colonialism, and racism on the lives of black people worldwide, leading to campaigns to demand reparations, foster healing, and restore dignity to Africans.
The host President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, emphasized that the demand for reparations is not a plea for alms but a dispensation of justice for Africans. He argued that no amount of money can restore the damage caused by the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Akufo-Addo argued that if reparations could rightfully be paid to the victims of the holocaust, reparations could be paid to the victims of the slave trade.
The Caribbean community has unequivocally announced its demand for payment of reparation, calling for Africans to revive and intensify discussions about reparations for the continent. He also supported the return and repatriation of African cultural properties to the continent, which would help Africans reconnect with their history, pioneers, knowledge, and skills. This reconnection would help build new relations with the international community, especially Europe, which was principally responsible for the original thefts of cultural properties.
The demand for reparation and repatriation of stolen and looted African cultural properties under pre-colonial and colonial circumstances must be issues of major concern to all Africans. Countries like Senegal, Nigeria, and Benin have managed to regain possession of some of their cultural properties that were illegally moved out of their territories. Ghana has also managed to restitute some of its stolen cultural properties and relics.
However, there has been a significant gap in this renewed energy for advocacy and political commitments. Experts say discussions and debates, especially those within Africa, are happening in silos, with interventions appearing half-hearted, campaigns appearing uncoordinated, and a lack of comprehensive strategy and agenda for reparations. The four-day event, themed “Building a United Front to Advance the Cause of Justice and the Payment of Reparations to Africans,” aims to address these inconsistencies.