John Dramani Mahama has strongly rejected arguments that slavery should be excused based on the norms of earlier eras, insisting that the transatlantic slave trade was unjust regardless of historical context.
Addressing a high-level event on reparatory justice at the United Nations headquarters on March 24, President Mahama described attempts to justify slavery through historical relativism as “loud and wrong.” He argued that the forced removal and exploitation of Africans could never be morally acceptable, regardless of the period in which it occurred.
“Slavery is wrong now, and it was wrong then,” he stated, emphasising that widespread participation in the practice did not make it justifiable.
Mahama highlighted that, even during the height of the transatlantic slave trade, there were individuals and movements that opposed it, demonstrating that moral resistance existed at the time. He further stressed that the system was deliberately structured to strip Africans of their humanity and was built on unfounded racial hierarchies.
His remarks come amid growing global calls for reparatory justice and formal recognition of the long-term consequences of slavery on Africa and its diaspora.
