President John Dramani Mahama has called on Africans and the global community to recognize the resilience, creativity, and achievements of African peoples, emphasizing that their inherent greatness endures despite centuries of oppression and injustice.

Speaking at a high-level event on reparative justice at UN Headquarters, President Mahama declared, “The greatness that is within us will always outweigh the injustices that have been vested against us. Despite what we’ve endured for centuries, our survival is a testament to that fact.”

The President highlighted the historical and cultural achievements of Africa, challenging narratives that have sought to diminish the continent’s contributions. “Our ancestors built magnificent cities, sophisticated drainage systems, and monumental structures,” he said, citing the cities of Benin and Great Zimbabwe. “These feats demonstrate ingenuity, organization, and civilization that contradict the myths used to justify enslavement and colonization.”

Mahama also stressed the importance of reclaiming African humanity and history: “We must always start by reclaiming racial equality, the dignity of Africans, and the humanity of our ancestors who were enslaved. In doing so, we also reclaim our own humanity.”

Reflecting on the legacies of slavery and oppression, the President noted, “Truth begins with language. When we absorb too much of the language of violence and erasure, our minds can become enslaved. But by speaking the truth about our history, we liberate ourselves and future generations.”

He concluded with a message of hope and collective responsibility: “A human compassion binds us to one another, not in pity, but as human beings who have learned to turn our common suffering into hope for the future. Let us stand united to acknowledge the full horrors of history, restore dignity, and celebrate the greatness within us all.”

President John Dramani Mahama has described the transatlantic slave trade as a deliberate system designed to strip African people of their humanity, calling for global recognition of its crimes and the restoration of dignity to the millions affected.

Speaking at a high-level event on reparative justice at the UN Headquarters, President Mahama said, “The entire transatlantic slave trade was designed to deny African people their humanity. That denial was premised on a racial hierarchy with no basis in fact or science, deeming whiteness superior and blackness inferior.”

He stressed that the atrocities committed were rooted in the perception of Africans as property rather than human beings. “The atrocities that were committed against enslaved Africans, and the injustices that were born of slavery and carried forward into successive social frameworks, took place specifically because those persons were considered objects, not human beings,” Mahama said.

The President recounted the brutal realities of enslavement: “When slaves were captured, they were stripped of their clothing, chained, and packed into cargo ships. Many did not survive the Middle Passage. Those who did were stripped of their names and given names like John, Jemima, or Mary, while others were branded with their owner’s insignia.”

Highlighting the global scale of the trade, Mahama added, “Roughly six million Africans were trafficked to Brazil, almost two million to Jamaica, half a million to America, and over 450,000 to Barbados. These are not just numbers—they are human beings, families, hopes, dreams, and futures stolen from them.”

President Mahama also warned against the modern-day erasure of slavery’s history. “Erasure begins with language. When black history courses are removed from curricula and books about slavery and segregation are banned, we are allowing this denial to continue,” he said.

He concluded with a call for collective action: “Reclaiming racial equality, the dignity of Africans, and the humanity of our ancestors is a matter of our own humanity. Let us bear witness, vote for truth, and restore the dignity of those whose lives were stolen.”

TAKORATWENE, AFRAM PLAINS — President John Dramani Mahama on Tuesday broke ground on Ghana’s first Farmer Services Centre in Takoratwene, launching what the government describes as a cornerstone of its effort to modernise the country’s agricultural sector and move smallholder farmers away from subsistence farming.

The centre, sited in the Afram Plains — a region the government has identified as a key agricultural growth corridor — is designed to operate as a one-stop hub offering farmers access to mechanised equipment, farm inputs, soil testing, storage facilities, extension training, and direct market linkages. Officials say the facility addresses long-running structural weaknesses that have kept Ghana’s farming sector from reaching its productive potential.

“This is how we transform agriculture — through practical, targeted investments,” President Mahama said at the groundbreaking ceremony.

The initiative is part of a broader national rollout, with government planning to establish 50 such centres across the country. Eleven are expected to begin construction this year.

Speaking at the event, Mahama framed the project as a deliberate policy shift, arguing that agriculture — which underpins the livelihoods of millions of Ghanaians — has long been held back by limited mechanisation, poor storage infrastructure, weak extension services, and fragmented market access. The new centres, he said, are intended to tackle all four at once.

The government is partnering with B5 Plus Group Limited on the project, with Mahama citing public-private collaboration as essential to the programme’s scale and sustainability. Beyond infrastructure, he said the broader agricultural agenda includes expanded irrigation, rural road development, climate-resilient farming practices, and value addition to boost farmer incomes.

Mahama also used the occasion to address input costs and pricing, assuring farmers that policies are in place to ease the financial burden of farming and guarantee fair prices for their produce.

Officials say the Afram Plains was selected for the first centre due to its substantial arable land and untapped potential for both crop and livestock production. The government hopes the facility will curb post-harvest losses, attract youth into commercial farming, and generate employment in the surrounding communities.