African leaders have been challenged to stand up for justice for their people as part of a renewed orientation towards the fight for reparations for the atrocities suffered by their forebears at the hands of their colonial masters during the pre-independence era.

The passionate call was made by the General Secretary of the Socialist Movement of Ghana (SMG), Kwesi Pratt Jnr, at an Expert Consultative Meeting held in Johannesburg, South Africa, from August 20 to 21, 2025.

According to the August 27, 2025, issue of The Insight newspaper, the veteran Ghanaian journalist also charged the large gathering of lawyers, academicians and activists from all over Africa to seek expert opinion on the right to reparations to ensure a successful campaign.

In a swift response, the participants resolved to request for an Advisory Opinion on from the Africa Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

Pratt Jnr reiterated his position that no amount of money could be sufficient compensation for the crimes committed against the African people by the capitalist states.

“What we seek is a complete reset of the world and its institutions to ensure the equality of all peoples and the building of a new world in which poverty and all forms of exploitation will be banished forever,” he said.

Pratt, who is also a member of the Organizing Committee of the Pan African Progressive Front (PPF) whose headquarters is in Accra, did not mince words by demanding Africa's pound of flesh from colonialists for all the past misdeeds.

The forum, convened jointly by the Pan African Lawyers' Union (PLU) and the Centre for Applied Legal Studies of the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, was purposely to intensify Africa's struggle for reparations from the West.

The initiative is being undertaken in accordance with Article 4 of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Establishment of an African Court on Human and Peoples Rights.

Reparations cover such abnormalities as slavery, genocide, land theft, colonialism and neocolonialism.

It will be recalled that the African Union (AU) at its 2025 Summit mandated President John Dramani Mahama of Ghana as its champion for the Reparations project.

Since then, the Ghanaian leader has lived up to expectation by using every least opportunity to advance the cause of reparations for the African people.

Come September 9, 2025 in Accra, President Mahama will be the Guest of Honour at the launch of a special book on reparations authored by Kwesi Pratt Jnr.

In the foreword of the book: “Reparations: History, Struggle, Politics And Law”, President Mahama wrote: “The transatlantic slave trade, European colonialism and the religious, economic and political justifications were not accidental episodes in human history.

“They were deliberate, coordinated acts of plunder. These acts were carried out with impunity and enabled global structures that continue to shape today’s inequalities and injustices.”

That indeed summarises President Mahama's passion for the reparations agenda.

Before the much-anticipated book launch, more than 3,000 workers, trade unionists and activists from across Africa will converge in Accra on August 29 to rally for debt cancellation for countries on the continent.

Dubbed the the Pan-African Debt Cancellation Rally and Trade Justice, the event is meant to drum home inimical loan agreements and credit facilities that have made countries on the continent worse off, leading to high levels of underdevelopment.

The event is being organised by the African Regional Organisation of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC -Africa) in partnership with the Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC).

It is part of a week-long series of activities associated with the African Conference on Debt and Development (AfCoDD) being held in Accra from August 25 to 29th this year, on the theme: “Reparations and Reparative Justice for an African Financial Architecture and Transformation.”