"Ghana was the crime scene where these atrocities took place, so Ghana cannot afford to be silent on ensuring that we hold perpetrators accountable," Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa says. He is calling for a system of reparatory justice that funds educational grants, venture capital for young African entrepreneurs and research into enduring health issues. Although he insists that this is not about direct financial gain for African leaders, one of the demands laid out at the recent summit on reparations talked of debt relief and debt cancellation.

Meanwhile, one of the key counter-arguments centres on the fact that some Africans were themselves complicit in the capture and sale of their fellow people. And for some traditional leaders, acknowledging the past is a vital prerequisite part of healing.