The government has emphasised that it is not seeking direct financial compensation as part of reparations, but is instead pursuing support for social interventions, including skills development programmes.
The statement follows the United Nations’ adoption of Ghana’s resolution on reparatory justice, which recognises the transatlantic slave trade as the gravest crime against humanity.
Speaking to journalists in Accra, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, said the government intends to engage countries that abstained or opposed the resolution, with the aim of persuading them to reconsider their position.
“As leaders, we are not interested in direct payments to us. This is not a profit-making venture. But there is a need for financial compensation to support courses, empowerment programmes, skills training, capital for entrepreneurs, and all of that, even psychosocial support,” he said.
“I would encourage you to read the CARICOM 10-point plan, which addresses some of these things. Research has even demonstrated that some of the disease burdens which Africans carry trace their roots from how Africans were treated in those ships, in those dungeons, in the forts and castles.”
Read also
Spio-Garbrah: US vote against slavery resolution symbolic, not substantive
