Use Emancipation Day to reflect on nation's motto- Zita

Assin-Manso (C/R), Aug. 2, GNA - A colourful durbar interspersed with traditional drumming and dancing, commemorated the emancipation Day celebration at Assin Manso in the Assin South District of the Central Region on Sunday.

The day is celebrated on August 1, each year to commemorate the abolition of chattel slavery worldwide.

The well attended durbar did not have the huge patronage it enjoyed over the past years by those in the Diaspora, who usually wept after they have had a feel of what their ancestors went through on visiting the graves of former salves as well as the slave market and River at Assin-Manso.

Addressing the durbar, Mrs Zita Sabah Okaikoi, Minister of Tourism described chattel slavery as "a stain on human history" and stressed that, lessons drawn from its abolition require all Africans and those in the Diaspora to collectively take charge of their own destiny and with determination take firm stand against all forms of bondage.

She said the celebration of the Day should be a clarion call for all peoples of African descent to rise up and defend the freedom, bequeathed to them through the toil and blood of their forefathers.

She paid glowing tribute to Dr Kwame Nkrumah, George Padmore, WEB Du-Bois and Marcus Garvey, whom she referred to as "renowned Pan-Africanists" whose immense contributions should never be forgotten.

She regretted that thousands of women and children continued to be sold into forced labour and are exploited beyond imagination despite the international labour laws and the UN protocols against human trafficking and stressed that, those victims are made vulnerable as a result of poverty and deprivation.

The Tourism Minister asked Ghanaians to use the day to reflect on the nation's motto "freedom and justice" which forbids all forms of slavery and injustice to "emancipate ourselves physically, socially and mentally for mother Ghana".

In a speech read for her, Mrs Ama Benyiwa-Doe, Central Regional Minister, noted that the celebration stood for equality, transparency, integrity and mutual respect for all people, irrespective of colour, ethnic background and social status.

She emphasized that emancipation should be a forward march of political and economic liberation for all and urged both Africans at home and those in the Diaspora to take advantage of its opportunities and possibilities for their mutual benefit.

Later, Mrs Okaikoi together with Barima Kwame XII, Omanhen of Assin Appimanim traditional area laid wreaths on the graves of Carson and Crystal, two former slave ancestors, whose remains were re-interred at Assin Manso in 1998 to serve as a memorial for those who suffered during the slave trade era.

The Minister and the delegation also went to the 'slave river' locally known as "nnkonsuo" where slaves brought in from the hinterlands had their last bath before being transported to the Cape Coast and Elmina castles, from where they are shipped to the Americas and the Caribbean.