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Greed
and exploitation led to Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade – Odotei
Accra, June 6, Ghanadot/GNA – Professor Irene Odotei,
President of the Historical Society of Ghana, on Friday said
greed and exploitation could have led to the Trans-Atlantic
Slave Trade.
She stressed that for people to have conceived the idea of
selling human beings as slaves they must have seen others as
less human beings than the others and said, “the slave trade
is therefore a problem for the world”.
Professor Odotei expressed these concerns when she launched
this year’s Emancipation Day celebration which would be
climaxed on August 1, 2008.
The occasion was also used to launch a book on the
Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade titled: “The Trans-Atlantic Slave
Trade – Landmarks, Legacies and Expectations.”
Prof. Odotei said factors that led to the slave trade were
no different from the number of ethnic group disparities in
the country and the world at large which made some people
see their ethnic groups as superior to others and some
people in some countries see themselves more important than
others.
She condemned greed and exploitation these days and pointed
out that those were the very factors that might have led to
the abominable Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.
She asked: “Why would a black person who finds himself in
the midst of white people travelling to perhaps Europe or
America be isolated for questioning at Immigration because
perhaps a black person is not supposed to be qualified to
attend workshops and other academic programmes in Europe or
America?”
Prof. Odotei said emancipation was an on-going process and
until we achieved a situation where human beings found
themselves to be equal and thus free to operate we must
continue to repeat the message of emancipation.
Mrs. Oboshie Sai-Cofie, Minister of Tourism and Diasporan
Relations, pledged government’s commitment to celebrate
Emancipation Day.
She said government had a special interest in all matters
relating to the African Diaspora hence her ministry’s policy
objective to encourage the development of special links that
bound Africans living in the homeland and those in the
Diaspora.
Ghana, she said, was a major exit point for slaves on the
West Coast of Africa during the slave trade hence the claim
to position the country as a gateway for those in the
Diaspora.
The Tourism Minister said the government was committed to
the complete eradication of child labour and child
trafficking.
“Within Ghana, there has been intensive education on the
menace of forced labour and movement of people. Government
has also implemented awareness-creation programmes about
some cultural practices that go against the freedom of
individuals in Ghana.”
Commenting on the book: “The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade –
Landmarks, Legacies and Expectations,” the Minister said the
full story of the slave trade remained untold and expressed
the belief that the book would attract global attention and
interest because of its bold attempt to close a yawning gap.
The book written by a team from the UNESCO Slave Route
Project is also to encourage research in the area of history
in order to bring out in full what actually happened during
the slave trade era.
Prof. James Anquandah, Chairman of the National Slave Route
Project Committee, said the book was to provide literature
for schools and the general public interested to know about
the slave trade.
He noted that until recently, there was no significant
literature on the slave trade.
Prof. George Hagan, Chairman of the National Commission on
Culture who reviewed the book, said much would have been
lost if Ghana decided not to uncover the history of the
slave trade.
Emancipation Day is celebrated annually to commemorate the
final abolition of slavery in the British colonies.
This year’s celebration would include a wreath laying
ceremony to honour three Pan-Africanists – Dr. Kwame
Nkrumah, Ghana’s first president, W.E.B Du Bois and George
Padmore and there would also be a re-enactment of the
crossing of the River Pra at Assin Praso where captured
slaves had their last bath. There would also be durbars to
be held at selected regions to re-trace the slave route.
The celebration would be climaxed on midnight of August 1,
where people of African descent would meet at the Cape Coast
Castle for a reverential night.
GNA
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