Private legal practitioner, Nana Obiri Boahen, has criticised former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and President John Dramani Mahama, accusing them of failing to present what he described as the full historical account of the transatlantic slave trade.
Nana Obiri Boahen highlighted that the narratives by African leaders often focus heavily on the atrocities from the transatlantic slave trade while overlooking earlier forms of slavery.
Speaking on Okay FM on Thursday, March 26, 2026, “Both Nana Addo and President Mahama are not giving Ghanaians the true historical background of the slave trade. African leaders and intellectuals are not being truthful about the true historical background on the matter. Before the transatlantic slave trade started, the Arabs were already buying slaves from Africa to their countries”.
“Why are they not talking about those ones? Theirs was even serious because what they did was that when they buy the slaves and take them to their countries, they kill all the slaves when just one individual commits wrongdoing. That was serious violation of human rights. The African leaders are afraid to speak about the Arabs and what they did,” he added.
He added, “… When the colonisers came to Africa (Shama and Elmina), they encountered the blacks, they realised how strong they were and how resourceful they could be, and so they decided to bring them to America to be able to operate their businesses, and that was the beginning of the slave trade,” he said.
“The first 80’s slaves that were taken from Europe to America were not brought directly from Africa to America, but were brought from Europe to America,” he explained.
“They then realised that they could bring lots of the slaves from Africa to America and so, in exchange, they brought items like mirrors, ammunitions, drinks to be given to the chiefs and slave leaders to buy the slaves. That is why it was called the transatlantic slave trade,” he explained.
Obiri Boahen noted, “I’m against the inhumane treatment that was given to the slaves. Before the transatlantic slave trade, even amongst ourselves as Africans, we were treating our own people inhumanely”.
“… At a time the slave trade became unprofitable. Also, they discovered gold, ivory, grains and decided to put a stop to dealing in human beings. Gradually by 1808, the slave trade was abolished,” he said.
“If America abstained from voting on the resolution, they were right as well as Israel, Venezuela and the others because they know the history very well,” he added.
Meanwhile, Alexander Kwamina Afenyo-Markin, the Minority Leader in Parliament, has punched holes in Ghana’s demand for reparatory justice following the UN General Assembly’s adoption of a resolution recognising the trafficking of enslaved Africans as the “gravest crime against humanity.
According to Afenyo-Markin, historical accounts of the transatlantic slave trade fail to reflect the role played by local actors.
Afenyo-Markin highlighted that local actors chase their strongest among their own people, then, after 100 years, Africans are demanding that they should be compensated.
The minority leader quizzed who should compensate whom following the role played by the indigenous people who subjected their people to inhumane treatment.
Speaking on the Floor of Parliament on Friday, March 27, 2026, “When somebody berths a vessel at Cape Coast, and you decide to go to the North, Bono area, get to the Ashanti area, to the Assin area, and you are chasing your strongest among your own people, then after 100 years, you say I should be compensated. Who should compensate whom? We maltreated our own and told the white man that he should also maltreat our own. The story must be told and must be put in its proper context.
“It is also a fact that the inhumane treatment, the unfortunate humiliation, the marginalisation, injustice and abuse of our ancestors who became victims of this slave trade must be condemned,” he said.