Kwesi Pratt in Ghana calls on Africa to seek equal rights and self-reliance
Veteran journalist Kwesi Pratt Jr., speaking at a youth forum on debt and reparations at the University of Ghana in Legon, called for reparations to be viewed as more than just financial payments. According to him, Africa must seek equal rights, control over natural resources and greater collective self-reliance, MyJoyOnline reports.
Speaking on September 5 at an event held under the slogan “Reclaiming Africa’s Wealth, Resisting Neocolonial Dependency,” Pratt said participants had gathered not to ask for aid but to defend the continent’s legitimate interests. He called the struggle for reparative justice fair and expressed confidence that Africa could win it.
Unity of Africa and the Caribbean
Pratt described a United Nations General Assembly resolution on reparations as an important achievement. In his view, its main significance lies in the unity of African and Caribbean states. As Pratt described it, the resolution recognizes the transatlantic slave trade, colonialism and neocolonialism as crimes against humanity.
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At the same time, he criticized African governments for concluding defense and intelligence agreements with external partners. According to him, some countries signed defense cooperation agreements with the European Union and the United States, while others reached intelligence cooperation arrangements with Ukraine. Pratt believes such decisions may weaken the continent’s strategic unity.
Reparations and the international order
Pratt stressed that the return of human remains and artifacts from European museums or financial payments would not amount to a complete victory without changing the international political and economic order. He linked Africa’s current state of development to the consequences of the transatlantic slave trade and said the forced labor of Africans taken abroad contributed to capital accumulation in Western economies.
According to Pratt, African countries cannot simply replicate the development models of the United Kingdom, Germany, France or the United States, as these, in his view, were partly shaped by slavery, resource extraction and unpaid labor. He called for Pan-African integration, stronger shared financial and security institutions, and greater African control over natural resources.
