As Jamaica prepares to advance its pursuit of reparations for slavery, Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness has urged citizens not to view the process as merely receiving “a cash payment in your pocket”, emphasising that no amount of money can fully compensate for the harm caused by slavery.

He stressed that reparations should be seen less as financial compensation and more as an acknowledgement of a profound moral wrong.

“Look at it from the perspective of respect, dignity, the change in how international institutions operate, the return of artefacts and things that represent our culture to their rightful owner…a change in the flow of investments to support the development of the social infrastructure that is needed to actually repair the damage caused by slavery. This is how we should be looking at reparations,” Dr Holness outlined.

He was responding to questions during a press conference following bilateral talks with President of the Republic of Ghana John Dramani Mahama at the Office of the Prime Minister in Kingston on Monday.

Acknowledging Ghana’s recent United Nations Resolution endorsing the Trafficking of Enslaved Africans and Racialised Chattel Enslavement of Africans as the Gravest Crime Against Humanity, Dr Holness affirmed that several pathways are being explored in the fight for reparations.

“Locally, we have been pursuing our own actions for reparations. We have passed in our Parliament a resolution which we will now perfect by presenting that petition to [His Majesty, The King], and we expect that there will be some responses which will further advance the reparations cause,” the Prime Minister further stated.

Jamaica will petition The King to refer a series of legal questions to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council as part of its efforts to secure justice for the atrocities of the transatlantic slave trade and the enslavement of Africans.

While acknowledging that meaningful change “won’t happen overnight”, Dr Holness said he was pleased with the joint efforts underway to change the global perspective, promote greater understanding, and advance the movement towards repair.

Meanwhile, President Mahama noted that Ghana’s UN Resolution on the trafficking of enslaved Africans, which received support from 123 countries, including Jamaica, has been widely welcomed internationally.

“There was a lot of apprehension before the moving of the Resolution. But…the response is beginning to become positive, even from countries that abstained from voting. There are several European countries that abstained from voting…but after the Resolution, they have reached out and said, ‘look, we want a discussion on this…we want to be a part of…what is happening’,” he shared.

President Mahama noted that there has been positive action from France, the Netherlands and Germany, which have returned artefacts to African nations.

“The Catholic Church, for the first time, apologised for the papal rules that they issued that gave the theological backing to the enslavement of Africans. The Archbishop of Canterbury, [who] was in Ghana recently, visited the Cape Coast Castle and issued an apology for the slave trade, and offered a restitution of £100 million to be put into a slavery fund,” he stated.

President Mahama emphasised that the efforts being pursued by Jamaica and Ghana are different routes to the same destination, noting “that’s why we support Jamaica in its petition to the monarchy in Britain in respect of slavery and restitution”.