Accra: President John Dramani Mahama has challenged Africans at home and abroad to reclaim control of their history and future. He emphasized the importance of lasting unity between the continent and its diaspora to dismantle the enduring legacies of slavery, colonialism, and systemic injustice. Opening the Diaspora Summit 2025 in Accra, Mahama stated that the gathering aimed not just to revisit the pain of the past, but to confront its consequences and chart a shared path forward anchored on truth, justice, and self-determination.
According to Ghana News Agency, Ghana is hosting the Diaspora Summit 2025 amidst growing global conversations around reparative justice, Pan-African solidarity, and structured diaspora engagement. The two-day Summit, under the theme 'Resetting Ghana: The Diaspora as the 17th Region', seeks to position the African diaspora as a central stakeholder in Ghana's national development agenda while advancing Africa's collective quest for justice and healing.
President Mahama highlighted that Africa could not afford the 'luxury of forgetting' the historical crimes that shaped global inequality, nor could it continue to allow others to define its narrative. He noted that Ghana's forts and castles, once holding points for enslaved Africans, serve as reminders of the inseparable story between the diaspora and the nation.
The President argued that the divisions weakening African peoples, whether along colonial borders, ethnicity, class, or geography, were engineered to sustain domination. He urged Africans and people of African descent to be 'more intentional about unity than our oppressors were about division,' emphasizing that unity remains the continent's most powerful tool for transformation.
Reparative justice, Mahama said, must be understood as a comprehensive process beyond financial compensation, including formal acknowledgment of wrongdoing, institutional reforms, debt relief, the return of stolen cultural artifacts, and sustained investment in Africa's development. He also mentioned Ghana's intention to propose a motion at the United Nations General Assembly to recognize the transatlantic slave trade as the greatest crime against humanity.
Mr. Faure Gnassingb©, President of the Council of Ministers of the Togolese Republic, described the reparations movement as a forward-looking demand for justice and stability. He emphasized that Africa is not seeking sympathy but demanding equity, recognition, and truth. Gnassingb© pointed out that slavery and colonization structured the global economy, creating productivity gaps and trade asymmetries that persist today.
Dr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas, African Union High Representative for Silencing the Guns, noted that Mahama's leadership had elevated reparations from moral advocacy to a structured continental agenda. He stated that the African Union had integrated reparatory justice into its long-term development frameworks, such as Agenda 2063, and was working with experts to translate commitments into actionable outcomes.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, remarked that recognizing the diaspora as the 17th Region is a practical expression of Pan-Africanism and a rejection of artificial separations imposed by history. He emphasized that the Summit aims to move the reparations conversation from symbolism to coordinated global action.
Mr. Benjamin Crump, U.S. civil rights attorney, noted that President Mahama's message resonated deeply with Africans in the diaspora still living with the consequences of enslavement and racial injustice. He emphasized that reparations are essential to restoring dignity and addressing intergenerational trauma, asserting that healing begins with acknowledgment and repair.