Ghana leads global push for reparations over transatlantic slavery

Ghana submitted the UN resolution on reparations, and in June hosted a summit in Accra attended by delegates from roughly 80 countries, who concluded that compensation is long overdue. The African Union has given Ghana special responsibility as "champion for reparatory justice."

Foreign Minister Samuel Okuzeto Ablakwa notes that 10-15% of the estimated 12 million Africans forcibly removed from the continent came from present-day Ghana, with many more shipped from its coast. He is calling for a reparatory justice system funding education grants, venture capital for young entrepreneurs, and research into lasting health issues, alongside accountability from institutions that profited from slavery, including the Church of England, which ran plantations and owned slaves in the 18th century.

Church's reckoning and resistance

In July, Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally visited Ghana, including Cape Coast Castle, where enslaved people were held before being shipped to the Americas. She described being deeply moved by the conditions and prayed at the site. The Church of England has established a £100m social impact fund, though the initiative has faced resistance both within the Church and beyond.

Debate over African complicity

Ablakwa firmly rejects claims that Africans were equally complicit, arguing the system was designed entirely by Western powers who merely used local intermediaries. Still, within Ghana, King Tackie Teiko Tsuru II of the Ga people recently apologised publicly for his ancestors' role as traders, saying acknowledging the past is essential for healing.

Ghana has also promoted a diaspora return campaign encouraging African-Americans to visit. However, former campaign staffer Yaw Asare warns it has increasingly become a tourism drive, raising local prices and overshadowing the deeper psychological healing needed by both residents and returning diaspora members.