Ghana’s president, on Monday called for slavery reparations for Africa and the African diaspora. President Akufo-AddoNana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, speaking at the Reparations and Racial Healing Summit aid these reparations were “long overdue” and needed to be intensified.
The Ghana leader questioned double standards when it came to other races and ethnic groups that were wronged historically.
“Native Americans have received and continue to receive reparations; Japanese-American families, who were incarcerated in internment camps in America during World War II, received reparations. Jewish people, six million of whom perished in the concentration camps of Hitlerite Germany, received reparations, including homeland grants and support”.
— Nana Akufo-Addo (@NAkufoAddo) August 2, 2022
He also insisted that all the African slave owners received reparations of around of 20 million pounds sterling, “but enslaved Africans themselves did not receive a penny.”
Haiti was forced to pay reparations of around $21 billion to French slaveholders in 1825, after the Haitian Revolution.
Even before these discussions on reparations conclude, the entire continent of Africa deserves a formal apology from the European nations involved in the slave trade for the crimes and damage it has caused to the population, psyche, image & character of the African the world over
— Nana Akufo-Addo (@NAkufoAddo) August 2, 2022
Insisting that no amount of money can set right the damage done by Transatlantic slave trade which went on for many centuries, Akufo-Addo said, “nevertheless, it is now time to revive and intensify the discussions about reparations for Africa. Indeed, the time is long overdue.”
According to Africa News, the Ghana President asked participants at the summit not to overly concern themselves with modalities for the payment of reparations, but, rather, work to establish, unequivocally, first the justice in the call for reparations.
“And, even before these discussions on reparations conclude, the entire continent of Africa deserves a formal apology from the European nations involved in the slave trade for the crimes and damage it has caused to the population, psyche, image and character of the African the world over,” he added.
