Accra: President John Dramani Mahama appears to have taken a swipe at award-winning investigative journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni and other critics of the demand for reparations to African countries over slavery, which was part of the United Nations resolution he (Mahama) championed. Even though the president did not directly name Manasseh Azure, the investigative journalist was among the first critics who said African countries do not deserve reparations because some Africans were complicit in the slave trade.
According to Ghana Web, reacting to these criticisms at his Presidential Dialogue with Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), the President could not hide his displeasure about the criticisms, describing them as childish remarks by persons who may be seeking attention. 'A few of our people, I don't know whether for attention or popularity, criticised their achievement and tried to belittle it, and they made all kinds of infantile arguments. They say so, but Africans were involved. The crime was systematic. The ships that carried the slaves were insured by reputable insurance companies that are some of the richest in the world today because they profited from the slave trade. The ship owners made money.'
President Mahama elaborated on the historical context, pointing out that reparations were paid to slave owners for releasing slaves, highlighting the systematic nature of the slave trade. He added, 'This was a whole system. They built ships, and they built the ships with measurements to make sure that the cargo could take the maximum amount of slaves. And you tell me that, you know, Africans were involved, so we shouldn't talk about reparations. some people just want to whittle down what happened.'
In discussing the UN vote on Ghana's slavery motion, President Mahama described the slave trade as the 'gravest crime against humanity'. He illustrated the brutality of the trade with an example of a ship captain who threw 134 slaves overboard to claim insurance for lost cargo. The president emphasized that the recognition of slavery as the gravest crime should bring peace to the souls of ancestors.
Finally, he dismissed the argument that African involvement in slavery absolves responsibility, likening it to the Holocaust where some Jews were complicit as prison guards. 'In the record of the Holocaust, there were Jews who were prison guards, the Jews who pointed out where other Jews were hiding. And yet the Holocaust is recognised as genocide and a crime against humanity. So why not the slave trade? Because some Africans were involved. It doesn't absolve those who built the system and financed it, and so we'll call them out. I don't care what anybody says, we'll call them out,' he stressed.