Sankofaonline News Desk: UN Headquarters New York. September 25, 2025
In a speech that electrified the United Nations General Assembly, President John Dramani Mahama of Ghana issued a historic call for reparations and economic justice, declaring the transatlantic slave trade “the greatest crime against humanity.” With unwavering resolve, Mahama announced Ghana’s intention to introduce a formal motion recognizing the scale and brutality of the slave trade and demanding restitution for centuries of exploitation.
“For more than 12.5 million Africans,” Mahama said, “enslavement was not a metaphor—it was a violent, state-sanctioned theft of life, labor, and legacy.” He condemned the enrichment of Western nations through forced African labor and highlighted the bitter irony that former slave owners received compensation for their “loss of property,” while the enslaved received nothing.
Mahama’s speech was not merely retrospective,it was a demand for present-day accountability. He called for reparations not only for slavery and colonization, but also for the continued theft of Africa’s natural resources and cultural heritage. “We must demand the return of stolen artifacts and the full value of what was taken from our lands,” he said.
The president also sounded the alarm on the global humanitarian crisis, noting a staggering 40% drop in aid since July 2024, as defense budgets balloon and official development assistance is slashed. “In this era of global uncertainty,” he declared, “Africa must exercise full sovereignty over its natural resources.”
Mahama condemned the longstanding practice of parceling out vast concession areas to foreign interests, insisting that the days of one-sided exploitation must end. “We will continue to welcome foreign investment,” he said, “but we must negotiate better. We must secure larger national shares and insist on in-country value addition.”
His message was clear: Africa will no longer be the passive supplier of raw materials or the silent victim of historical injustice. It will be a sovereign force, demanding dignity, equity, and a seat at the table of global power.
