President John Dramani Mahama has outlined three pillars that will guide the next steps of reparative justice following the UN resolution on restitution.
He described the transatlantic slave trade as the gravest crime against humanity.
Speaking at a side event at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 23, President Mahama said Africa would no longer accept excuses for the continued possession of stolen artifacts and human remains.
President Mahama said the first pillar is to acknowledge progress made since the resolution was passed.
“First, we acknowledge and salute the progress that has been made since the resolution was passed. We thank the Netherlands for cataloging 2,000 Ghanaian artifacts for return,” he said.
“Thank you, Netherlands. We acknowledge Germany’s engagement with our Kpando traditional area. We acknowledge France’s legislative frameworks and the return of what UNESCO Secretary General talked about, the Gigi Ayokwe talking drums, which are sacred talking drums of the Cote d’Ivoire,” the President added.
He also commended religious institutions that have apologized for their role in slavery.
“We also acknowledge the acknowledgment and apology of church institutions like the Catholic Church, acknowledge and apologize for its role in slavery. The Archbishop of Canterbury, when she visited the Cape Coast Castle, apologized for the role of the Church of England and offered 100 million pounds for a reparatory justice fund,” President Mahama stated.
The President however said isolated gestures are not enough.
“But moral justice cannot rely on piecemeal generosity or isolated acts of goodwill,” he stressed.
For the second pillar, he called for a permanent institutionalized global system for restitution.
“Our next step is to build a permanent institutionalized global system. And so we call on UNESCO and the United Nations and countries that hold these artifacts to establish clear, standardized legal and diplomatic mechanisms that streamline provenance research, they make archives transparent, and lower the legal barriers to unconditional restitution, starting immediately with the unconditional return of all human remains back to their proper place,” he said.
President Mahama forcefully rejected the narrative that Africa lacks the capacity to receive and preserve returned artifacts.
“Now let us reject this narrative. Capacity constraints must never be used as a justification for continued possession. That argument has been made, that Africa does not have the museums and the right conditions to keep these artifacts when we take them back. We reject that argument,” he declared.
“Capacity must serve as a bridge to return, but not as a barrier to justice,” he added.
He noted that the continent is already preparing to receive its heritage.
“Africa is already building the infrastructure of the future. Through the African Union’s flagship Agenda 2063 project, we are advancing the Great African Museum, which will be able to receive these artifacts and preserve them for us,” President Mahama said.
