Reparations Is Not About Sharing Money, It’s About Removing Constraints Kakulasewura Kankan Maji I

Story by Fada Amakye

The Chief Principal Counsel to the Yagbonwura of the Gonja Kingdom, Kakulasewura Sakra Kankan Maji I, says the fight for reparations should not be reduced to sharing money but removing the constraints that hinder Africa’s development.

Speaking at the Youth Forum on Debt and Reparations in Accra, the traditional leader, who is also custodian of the royal mausoleums and head of the Mankuma Traditional Area, said the focus must be on economic emancipation.

It’s not about sharing money, but it’s about removing the constraints that bind us, so that we can exploit our full potential,”_ he said.

He explained that the global financial architecture continues to constrain Africa’s growth, and even without payment of reparations, removing that constraint would be a big win for the continent.

According to him, the accumulated capital from centuries of slavery and exploitation has given others a head start which they used to build a system that benefits them more.

They have used that head start to construct an architecture in which on every 100 cedis, they get 90 and we get 10. If we change that for us to get 50-50, it is much more important than them giving us 20 cedis, he noted.

Kakulasewura Kankan Maji I urged Africans to change their mindset about reparations to focus on structural reforms and mechanisms that allow Africa to take advantage of its own potential.

He said the youth of today and future generations stand to harvest the fruits of true economic emancipation if the right reforms are pursued.