Ambassador Quartey speaking at the lecture chaired by Dr. Doris Dartey, a member of the National Media Commission
VISITING BRITISH Royal, Prince Charles of Wales, has been told that his country ought to pay Ghana for the damage of the Transatlantic Slave Trade caused the West African nation.
Deputy Chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission, Ambassador Kwesi Quartey, made the call on Friday in Accra in a presentation at a public lecture.
He said Britain must pay “because most of our (Ghana’s) underdevelopment is due to the work they (British) did here. And we should remind them that they have the duty to come and repair the damage. They must come and do the reparation of the damage.”
He specifically pointed out that the low levels of development in the industrial, agricultural and educational sectors of Ghana were due to the slave trade.
Prince Charles arrived in Accra on Friday, November 2, 2018, at about 2:15pm and by 6pm the same day, the African writers and scholars had converged on the Pan African Writers Association (PAWA) Secretariat in the capital to remind him about the “sordid” past of the slave trade.
According to him, “as we welcome Prince Charles, it is important that we remind him about the sordid history of the transatlantic slave trade.”
Ambassador Quartey in a presentation at the public lecture organized by PAWA in collaboration with Ghana Association of Writers (GAW), said Britain ought to repair the damage caused in the educational, infrastructural and socio systems of Ghana, then Gold Coast.
The 7th PAWA annual lecture was themed: “From the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade to the African Union: Quo Vadis?”
The call for reparation comes as Prince Charles who is on a four-day visit to Ghana is scheduled to tour the Christiansborg Castle, a then British Slave Fort, to discuss its repairs and reuse.
Ambassador Quartey who was elected deputy chairperson of the AU Commission in January 2017, lamented that even though Britain played an active and major role in the slave trade which led to the shipment of Ghanaians and other Africans across the Atlantic like ‘goods’, some notable British nationals like former Prime Minister Tony Blair have failed to offer due apologies to Ghana for the involvement of British in the slave trade.
He expressed the opinion that the constant recognition of Britain’s role in the slave trade by some British citizens and leaders and the deliberate refusal to apologize, smack of double standards and gross hypocrisy.
Citing scholarly documents including letters purportedly written by British officials on the slave trade in the then colony, he painted a picture of African ancestors being treated more like ‘animals’ and ‘goods’ other than humans by the British, a treatment he believes demands an unqualified apology.
Historical accounts suggest that for over 300 years, Britain and other European countries like Portugal and Spain, forced Ghanaians and other Africans onto slave ships sent them across the Atlantic Ocean.
He has therefore urged Ghana to work to reposition itself as the ‘Mecca’ of Africa to enable the Africans in the diaspora come back home to trace their origin.
He said the various castles such as the Cape Coast Castle must be well preserved and developed to enhance tourism activities in the country.
BY Melvin Tarlue