President of the Republic of Ghana , His Excellency Nana Akuffo-Addo has said during a speech at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on Wednesday that reparations should be paid by those who engaged in the transatlantic slave trade in Africa.
Speaking at the 78th Session of the UN General Assembly today , September 20,2023 in New York ,Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo intimated that slave trade left a colossal dent and burden on the development of Africa as a continent due to greed and exploitation perpetuated by the Europeans during that era.
“Reparations must be paid for the slave trade and the collateral damage it had on the psyche and development of the African continent and its shared aspirations for future growth and prosperity to get an equal share of the ever changing global economic order that has kept Africa at the foot of the global hegemony” Akuffo-Addo said.
The Ghanaian president’s remarks were part of his discussion of the impact of the transatlantic slave trade and colonial exploitation on the development of Europe and the United States.
Akuffo-Addo underscored the growing shift in global awareness on the issues , saying that the world had previously avoided confronting the full extent of the consequences of the slave trade.
“Granted, the current generations are not the ones that engaged in the slave trade, but that grand inhuman enterprise was state sponsored and deliberate and its benefits are clearly interwoven with the present day economic architecture, ” Akuffo-Addo said.
The 78th session of the General Assembly is aimed at addressing the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals, responding to the threats of climate change and coordinating cooperation on health issues.
