President John Dramani Mahama urged Africans globally to unite and demand reparations for slavery, colonialism and artifact theft at the Diaspora Summit 2025 opening Friday, December 19, in Accra.
The two day summit convened at the Accra International Conference Centre under the theme Resetting Ghana, The Diaspora as the 17th Region. Mahama stated that unification of the African diaspora against colonial mindsets would enable achievement of reclamation goals. He called on Africans to reverse narratives imposed by oppressors and take control of their historical story.
The President emphasized that Ghana’s forts and castles served as holding points for millions of enslaved Africans. He described Ghana’s coastline as a major exit point that turned the Gulf of Guinea and Atlantic Ocean into a graveyard for ancestors. The President condemned artificial colonial boundaries that split ethnic and cultural communities across borders, forcing them to live under different colonial cultures perpetually.
Mahama argued that Africans must be more intentional about unity than oppressors were about division. He stated that current racist rhetoric using words like garbage and filth to describe Africans underscores the urgency of confronting historical wrongs. The President said Africa cannot afford the luxury of forgetting historical crimes that shaped global inequality.
Togo President Faure Gnassingbé declared that no African financial, cultural or digital sovereignty strategy can succeed without mobilizing the diaspora. He described the diaspora as a strategic pillar of African sovereignty and a true political, economic and intellectual extension of Africa. Gnassingbé urged Africans to reclaim their stories, rewrite history from an African perspective and teach future generations about resilience, resistance and rebirth.
The Togolese leader emphasized that slavery and colonialism structured the global economy by creating productivity gaps, trade asymmetries, technological divides and institutional weaknesses persisting today. He proposed reparations measures including debt cancellation, multilateral funds for education and innovation, and new legal commitments at the United Nations. Gnassingbé stressed that reparations are as essential to Africa’s development as infrastructure, finance and industrial transformation.
Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa described the summit as a decisive shift in the struggle for reparations. He reaffirmed Ghana’s recognition of the diaspora as the 17th region, noting that centuries of forced separation failed to break bonds between Africans on the continent and diaspora. Ablakwa disclosed that registered summit participants received free visas from Ghanaian missions worldwide on President Mahama’s instruction.
AU High Representative Mohamed Ibn Chambas lauded Ghana for convening the summit at this historic moment for Africa and its global diaspora. He stated that President Mahama’s leadership elevated reparations from moral advocacy to a structured continental agenda. The African Union has embedded reparatory justice into Agenda 2063 and works with legal and policy experts to translate commitments into actionable outcomes.
The summit attracted participants from Africa, Europe, North America, the Caribbean and other regions. The government granted diplomatic passports to five prominent Ghanaians as diaspora envoys including travel vlogger Wode Maya, reggae artist Rocky Dawuni, broadcaster Anita Erskine, visual artist Ibrahim Mahama and entrepreneur Dentaa Amoateng. The appointments signal government commitment to leveraging cultural influencers to amplify Ghana’s investment narrative globally.
US civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump described Mahama’s message as resonating deeply with diaspora Africans living with enslavement and racial injustice consequences. He stated the summit sent a clear signal that Africa and its diaspora are organizing to claim justice rather than waiting for it. The gathering seeks to reposition the African diaspora as a central stakeholder in Ghana’s national development agenda.
Ghana targets the estimated $2 trillion collective wealth of the global African diaspora. Remittances to Ghana were nearly 1.5 times the size of foreign direct investment flows in 2023, demonstrating substantial economic impact. Research indicates that a 1 percent increase in remittances leads to approximately 4 percent increase in GDP per capita, underscoring potential multiplier effects of enhanced diaspora engagement.
The summit focuses on historical truth, healing, economic justice, youth, innovation and the digital economy. These priorities align with the AU vision of transformative rather than transactional reparations. Key discussions address diaspora investment, talent mobilization, heritage connections and ongoing conversations around reparations and historical justice. The event positions Ghana as Africa’s premier hub for diaspora engagement.
President Mahama paid tribute to Pan-Africanists including Marcus Garvey and Ghana’s founding President Kwame Nkrumah for their roles advancing unity between Africans on the continent and diaspora. He noted that the Black Star on Ghana’s flag became a defining symbol of national identity due to Pan-African ideals. The President expressed confidence that Africans and diaspora members would achieve shared goals with common purpose despite past divisions.
