Former St. Vincent Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves has arrived in Accra, Ghana, to attend a highly anticipated international conference focused on reparations. Checking into the Mövenpick Hotel, Gonsalves is accompanied by his team, which includes his son Storm and a representative from the Repair Campaign.
The gathering in Ghana, described by Gonsalves as a “next steps meeting,” is being presided over by President John Mahama. The event will see an influx of Caribbean delegations, with prominent leaders such as Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley expected to arrive shortly.
The conference in Accra follows a series of high-level preparatory discussions. Prior to his arrival, Gonsalves participated in a virtual meeting of the prime ministerial subcommittee on reparations. Chaired by Prime Minister Mottley, Gonsalves joined the Zoom session from the Prime Minister’s office in Barbados. He described the session as an “excellent meeting” where several important decisions were made ahead of the Ghana summit.
Gonsalves’ diplomatic itinerary has been extensive, having left St. Vincent on the 11th of the month and traveled to Barbados on the 12th before spending a couple of days in London. While in the UK, he held a productive meeting with Lord Marvin Rees, the former Mayor of Bristol and a prominent figure in the House of Lords and the British Labour Party. Gonsalves highlighted Rees’ diverse Jamaican, British, and Irish heritage, praising him as a “sharp” and “very interesting man”. Their discussions centered on Caribbean relations with the United Kingdom, specifically focusing on the issue of reparations.
Looking ahead, Gonsalves outlined a rigorous upcoming schedule for the reparations movement globally. Key upcoming engagements include further discussions at CARICOM, a Repair Campaign event scheduled in England for September, and an international regional conference on reparations to be held in Barbados in mid-September. The agenda will also be a major focus at the upcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government conference in Antigua and Barbuda.
Gonsalves emphasized that the core mission behind these international events is twofold: promoting the sustainable development of the Caribbean region and repairing the deep, lasting legacy of underdevelopment traced directly back to native genocide and the enslavement of African people.