The African Union (AU) is expected to discuss and establish a committee to spearhead discussion on reparations to Africa.
The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who disclosed this yesterday, said he had tabled for that discussion to be held at the next AU Summit this weekend.
According to the President, the continent needed a coherent and well-thought out argument on the subject, but could do so through a coordinated approach.
This becomes a step further from the public addresses to action, as the western world appears adamant to this demand.
“We have taken quite a forward position on the issue of reparation in Ghana. In fact, I’ve had it tabled to be an issue of discussion at Addis Ababa this weekend at the AU Summit. We are moving for the establishment of a reparatory programme and committee to spearhead the discussions on this matter.
“So that whatever step that are taken by us in Africa are ones that are coherent and well-thought out and at the same time recognise all the implications of what is…,” he stated.
President Akufo-Addo was addressing the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rt. Hon. Justin Portal Welby, who paid a courtesy call to Jubilee House on Tuesday.
The Archbishop in his address, which preceded that of President Akufo-Addo, had announced the desire of the church to commit some amount of money to tackle climate change, others, which have had a negative impact on Africa through no fault of theirs.
He mentioned that the Anglican committee had been discussing slavery, human trafficking and others, being a thorn in the flesh of Africa.
He told President Akufo-Addo that is faces a difficult situation considering all the issues affecting Africa, but commended him for his show of leadership.
Meanwhile, this is not the first time President Akufo-Addo in particular has spoken about the issue of reparations.
It would be recalled that at the Reparations and Racial Healing Summit held on Monday, August 1, 2022, President Akufo-Addo, in his speech, stressed that reparations for Africa and the African diaspora were long overdue.
He told the gathering that the effects of the slave trade had been devastating to the African Continent and to the African diaspora, adding that the entire period of slavery stifled Africa’s economy, cultural and psychological progress.
He could not understand why the matter of reparations becomes a debate only when it is about Africa or Africans.
He recalled that when the British ended slavery, all the owners of enslaved Africans received reparations to the tune of twenty million pounds sterling, but enslaved Africans themselves did not receive a penny.
“So it is time for Africa, twenty million of whose sons and daughters had their freedoms curtailed and sold into slavery, also to receive reparations,” he said at the Reparations and Racial Healing Summit.
