Mahama Calls for Diaspora Inclusion in Ghana’s National Story at 2025 Diaspora Summit

President John Dramani Mahama has called for the African diaspora to be fully recognised as an integral part of Ghana’s national history and future, urging a renewed commitment to unity, historical reclamation and reparative justice.

Speaking at the opening of the Diaspora Summit 2025, President Mahama said Ghana’s story remains incomplete without the experiences and contributions of Africans dispersed through the transatlantic slave trade and subsequent migration.

He argued that historical narratives have too often ended at the point of enslavement, ignoring what became of millions of Africans forcibly taken across the Atlantic.

“Why do these events that followed cease to be part of Ghana’s story also?” the President asked, noting that nearly 13 million Africans were transported during the transatlantic slave trade, with millions perishing along the way.

President Mahama highlighted Ghana’s central role in the history of slavery, pointing out that the country hosts more slave forts and castles than any other African nation.

He said many enslaved Africans from across the sub-region passed through Ghana before being transported abroad, making their descendants’ histories inseparable from that of the nation.

According to the President, the Diaspora Summit marks the beginning of a deliberate effort to reclaim suppressed histories and rebuild bonds fractured by slavery, colonialism and artificial borders.

“We are gathered here today to begin the process of reclamation in earnest,” he said.

“To write our own story and move full steam ahead.”

President Mahama also criticised colonial-era divisions and racial stereotypes, arguing that they continue to undermine African unity and self-worth.

He said Africans on the continent and in the diaspora have remained connected through language, culture, food and folklore, citing examples from music, cuisine and storytelling across the Americas and the Caribbean.

Referencing Ghana’s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Mr Mahama reaffirmed Ghana’s Pan-African commitment, stressing that independence is incomplete without the liberation and unity of all African peoples.

He traced how post-independence coups, foreign interference and economic pressures contributed to instability, brain drain and the expansion of the modern diaspora.

On reparative justice, President Mahama announced that Ghana intends to move a motion at the United Nations to recognise the transatlantic slave trade as a crime against humanity.

He called for concrete reparations, including debt cancellation, monetary compensation, the return of stolen artefacts and reforms to the global economic system.

“Africa has suffered slavery, colonialism, genocide and apartheid,” he said.

“We demand acknowledgement of these crimes against humanity.”

President Mahama concluded by urging Africans worldwide to embrace unity as a tool for progress, declaring that “the future is African” and formally opening the Diaspora Summit 2025.