By James Amoh Junior
Accra, Dec. 20, GNA – The Ga Mantse, King Tackie Teiko Tsuru II, has urged Africans and people of African descent across the world to anchor the global reparations movement on truth, unity and shared accountability.
He said justice without honesty would be hollow and reconciliation without truth unsustainable.
Addressing participants at the historic 2025 Diaspora Summit in Accra, the Ga Mantse described the gathering as a rare moment that brought together “the children of Africa from every corner of the globe” to reflect on a painful shared past while charting a united path towards justice, healing and renewal.
He commended President John Dramani Mahama for what he called visionary leadership in positioning Ghana and Africa at the forefront of the global reparations and racial justice movement.
The traditional ruler praised the establishment of the Global Office for Reparations, headquartered in Accra, describing it as a moral statement of Ghana’s renewed commitment to historic redress and international justice.
He said the Summit was taking place at a time when Africa and its diaspora were being compelled to confront painful truths about the transatlantic slave trade with honesty, courage and clarity.
The Ga Mantse said the designation of the diaspora as Africa’s sixth region by the African Union, and Ghana’s recognition of the diaspora as its 17th region, went beyond symbolism and reflected a historical reality that Africa’s story could not be told without the millions who were uprooted, scattered across continents, yet remained unbroken across centuries.
He recalled that more than 12.5 million Africans were forcibly removed from their homelands during the transatlantic slave trade, stripped not only of their dignity but also of their identities, a loss that continued to shape the lived realities of black people across the world today.
He said the growing calls for repatriation and reconnection were rooted in this collective loss, making the reparations debate far more than an emotional or academic exercise.
According to him, reparations were fundamentally about justice, morality and economic redress, but these goals could only be pursued meaningfully if Africans were prepared to embrace uncomfortable truths about their own history.
In a rare and candid acknowledgement, the Ga Mantse said some African ancestors, including chiefs, warriors and intermediaries, had participated in and enabled aspects of the slave trade, often under the geopolitical pressures of their time.
Speaking as custodian of the collective memory of the Ga State and on behalf of traditional leadership in the ancient Ga kingdoms and the wider GaDangme area, King Tackie Teiko Tsuru II expressed regret and apologised for any roles African forebears might have played in the tragedy.
He stressed that such humility did not weaken Africa’s demand for reparations but rather strengthened it, because true justice must be grounded in honesty rather than denial, and genuine reconciliation must be built on truth rather than silence.
He cautioned, however, that expectations around reparations must be managed carefully, noting that the global reparations agenda was legally, diplomatically and politically complex.
He said even the African Union’s own technical committees had acknowledged the structural challenges involved, and warned that reparations would not be achieved overnight or through declarations alone.
The Ga Mantse said success would require sustained moral persuasion, historical clarity, legal expertise, strategic diplomacy and, above all, coordinated African unity.
He expressed confidence in the leadership of the Global Office for Reparations under Dr. Ekow Spio-Garbrah, whom he described as a statesman of international repute and a pan-African diplomat capable of steering the agenda from rhetoric to concrete international recognition.
He emphasised that reparations should not be reduced to financial compensation alone, but must also include the restoration of dignity, identity and historical memory, the return of stolen cultural artefacts, economic restructuring and development partnerships, truth-telling, public acknowledgement, and collective healing and reconciliation.
The Ga Mantse said traditional leaders had a critical role to play in this process as champions of memory, custodians of truth and pillars of healing, noting that their institutions carried ancestral legitimacy and moral authority that could help anchor the reparations movement in African values.
GNA
Edited by Christian Akorlie