The Head of the Centre for European Studies at the University of Ghana, Dr Kwame Asah-Asante, has criticised President John Mahama’s call for reparations during his recent address at the United Nations General Assembly, describing it as misplaced.
Speaking on the AM Show on JoyNews, Dr Asah-Asante acknowledged that many people have praised the former president’s UN speech as bold and visionary.
“It is an apt description of a speech from a leader who is visionary, who fears nobody, and a leader worth his salt,” he said.
“I have no problem with that, and I concede to a large extent that yes, the speech had what it takes to be presented at that forum.”
However, he said he disagreed with the part of the address that focused on reparations for slavery. “The president touched on the issue of reparations, and that is where I have a difficulty,” he said.
Drawing on history, Dr Asah-Asante said Africa’s role in the transatlantic slave trade cannot be ignored. “If you look at the history of the slave trade, it was not committed by one person. In every market, there is the demand and there is the supply. Who were those who supplied the slaves? Our people here, chiefs, opinion leaders, and all that. We sold our people into slavery,” he said.
“So that exercise, if there is a problem, it cannot be borne by only one person. It takes two to tango. We sold our people, people bought them, and then used them for whatever purpose they wanted.
“That argument for me has been discussed and discarded, and I was not looking forward to hearing my president recounting that because it can never be sustained anywhere,” he added.
According to him, while the slave trade was “distasteful” and its methods “inhuman,” Africans must also admit their complicity. “With all due respect to Mr President, I disagree that Africans qualify for any reparations because we were part and parcel of the slavery,” he said.
Dr Asah-Asante recalled his own visits to slavery heritage sites abroad and recognised the pain associated with that history, quoting the late historian Professor Adu Boahen, who once described slavery as “an unmitigated misery.”
“But I believe that Africans were part and parcel of it even before the transatlantic trade, we also had domestic slavery. What about that?”