Renowned United States civil rights lawyer and social justice advocate Benjamin Crump has lauded President John Dramani Mahama for what he described as courageous and principled leadership in pushing the global agenda on reparative justice.
Speaking at the opening session of the Diaspora Summit 2025 in Accra on Friday, December 12, Crump said Ghana had emerged as a moral voice on the world stage at a time when many global leaders remain hesitant to confront the historical injustices of slavery and colonialism.
According to him, President Mahama’s leadership has helped shift the reparations debate from the margins into the mainstream of international discourse.
Crump specifically referenced the President’s recent address at the United Nations General Assembly, where Ghana announced its intention to move a motion recognising the transatlantic slave trade as the greatest crime against humanity.
“You have shown the world what moral leadership looks like,” Crump told President Mahama, describing the move as a defining moment in the global struggle for justice and accountability.
The Diaspora Summit is being held against the backdrop of renewed global focus on Pan-African unity, historical justice, and structured engagement between Africa and its diaspora.
Organised under the theme “Resetting Ghana: The Diaspora as the 17th Region,” the summit aims to strengthen ties between Ghana and Africans in the diaspora while positioning them as active partners in national development and collective healing.
Crump, who has represented families affected by racial injustice in several high-profile cases in the United States, said his participation in the summit carried deep personal meaning.
He described Ghana not as a place he was visiting, but as home, explaining that the legacy of the transatlantic slave trade lives “in his bones” as a descendant of Africans who survived the brutal history.
According to him, Ghana’s leadership on reparative justice offers hope not only to people of African descent, but to all communities seeking truth, healing, and dignity.
