President John Dramani Mahama has stressed the need for reparatory justice for Africa, noting that the time is now for Africa to reclaim all it lost to colonialism and slavery.
Speaking at the Diaspora Summit 2025 in Accra on Friday, December 19, President Mahama said it is time for Africa to “speak loudly and clearly, naming what it is we have lost as well as what it is we hope to gain.”
“This is precisely the time where we must advance and begin the process of reclamation,” President Mahama noted.
The summit was held under the theme “Resetting Ghana: The Diaspora as the 17th Region.”
Addressing the gathering comprising Ghanaians living abroad and people of African descent, President Mahama underscored the need for reparative justice for Africa which he said 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 emphasised that Africa demands the establishment of legal, institutional and international mechanisms to advance reparative justice.
“Africa has suffered slavery, colonialism, genocide and apartheid. We demand acknowledgement of these crimes against humanity,” he added.
The Diaspora Summit is a high-level convening of global Ghanaian and Pan-African diaspora communities, policymakers, private sector actors, and development stakeholders.
The summit is designed to institutionalize diaspora engagement as a strategic pillar of national development, positioning the diaspora not merely as contributors of remittances but as active partners in governance, investment, innovation, and cultural promotion.
