Ghana commended for hosting Emancipation Day

Accra, July 29, GNA - Mr. Hamet M. Maulana, Chairman of the African World Reparation and Repatriation Truth Commission (AWRRTC), on Tuesday commended Ghana for hosting the Emancipation Day celebrations. He said such an historic event taking place in Ghana had come about as a result of former President Jerry John Rawlings having been inspired by the experience of Emancipation Day Celebrations while on a state visit in the Caribbean Region in 1997.

He said President John Agyekum Kufuor has endorsed it and supports the principal ideas of Emancipation Day Celebrations.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency on Tuesday on this year's celebration under the theme, "Emancipation, What it means to us", Mr Maulana said Ghana takes pride in hosting this annual event to show solidarity with peoples of African descent throughout the Diaspora. Mr Maulana said Ghana, for taking the bold initiative in establishing the first commemorative event of Emancipation Day Celebrations ever in Africa is a confirmation of the country's unique position of being the first Black African country to break the shackles and yoke of colonization.

He explained that Emancipation Day is an historic commemoration of the abolition of slavery, in the British Crown Colonies in 1834 and the United States in 1865.

"It must be made known that before the enslavement of the African ...., African civilization was supreme and at centre stage throughout the entire world.

"Africans were the first to create culture, religion, philosophy, science and medicine.

Above all, the first celestial laws and principles defining the entire universe were established by Black African peoples living throughout East Africa, beginning in the Great Lakes Region, inclusive of the highlands of ancient Ethiopia, and descending down to the delta region of Ancient Egypt."

Every August 1 is celebrated in Ghana as Emancipation Day.