The Culture Minister of Jamaica is petitioning this week (07.-11.09.2026) King Charles III for reparations in the context of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. In March 2026, at the UN (not the people of the affected countries), governments voted in favour of the African Union motion to recognise the Transatlantic Slave Trade as the worst humanitarian crisis in history, sidelining 60 million deaths during WWII, 1000 years of the slave trade by the Romans and 3500 years of Pharaohs using slaves from Africa.

Ghana is spearheading the AU motion and will head the organisation in 2027. The country accepted the 1992 Constitution, by which Art 91 Indemnity Clause is understood and agreed upon not to judge corruption cases of the past, only while moving forward. It is an unwritten worldwide agreement: laws do not deal with matters of the past; only from the moment of signing a bill into law can cases come before a court for judgment.

The Allies demanded from Germany reparations for WWI and WWII right during the process of peace negotiations, and Germany paid! Most African countries got their independence in the 1960s, Ghana in 1957, and did not ask for any condemnation of the Transatlantic Slave Trade nor reparations. This triggers the obvious question: why, over two generations later Africa and Jamaica ask for reparations and condemnation? What has changed in the meantime? Historic facts have not changed, so the knowledge about the atrocities committed. At the time of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, slavery was legal and commonly accepted as such by white aned blacks alike. Black Africans were captured and sold as Prisoners of War to white slave masters or used themselves.

In the 19th hundreds the narrative changed, and slavery was seen as cruelty. Human rights activists, US President Abraham Lincoln being their most prominent figure, fought for the condemnation and abolition of slavery.

Africa, unlike Europe or the USA, condemned homosexuality as the imported sickness of the whites into Africa and used the force of law to go after homosexual practises in their countries and imprison citizens wanting to live their sexuality freely as they feel and see it. In 80-100 years from now, will these countries be held to account for their actions against homosexuals, forced to compensate the imprisoned citizens?

What has changed is that the African Union is in limbo. African countries like Burkina Faso, Niger, Rwanda, and Mali are led by military dictators standing in for their people and interests against exploitation by the white man. Most African democracies are questioned by their people due to corruption and lack of good governance. Xenophobia in South Africa seemingly makes the vision of a good working African Union impossible to achieve. The Transatlantic Slave Trade seems to be currently the only bracket keeping the African countries together and united against foreign influence, especially from former colonial masters’ side. Under this umbrella, in the forceful bracket, Ghana’s president in 2027 will try to solve fundamental differences among African nations to bring them back to the original vision of Dr Kwame Nkrumah, first president of liberated Ghana.

is an old saying, never losing its core value.