President Uhuru Kenyatta has urged African leaders to join him in making 2019 a year that will be remembered by African descendants; the year of renewing engagement with Africa and its diaspora. Speaking during an event he hosted this morning in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to commemorate the 400th Anniversary of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, the Kenyan President appreciated the descendants of slaves who were taken to the Americas in chains, for their unique resilient spirit, saying they had become a great source of strength and hope. In the Spirit of integration, Mr. Kenyatta called for the full participation of Africans in the diaspora as the 6th region of the African Union.
Among the leaders in attendance was President Kaguta Museveni of Uganda who hailed President Uhuru Kenyatta for reviving the Pan-African Spirit by hosting an event to commemorate this Anniversary. Museveni also thanked Kenyatta for building a new framework of engagement between Africans and African descendants in the Americas.
On his part, President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana said he had declared 2019 as the “Year of Return” both to commemorate the resilience of Africans forced into slavery and to encourage their descendants to return home.
President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa who also spoke during the event said Slavery interrupted the natural course of development that was bound to take place in Africa. He further added that slavery gave birth to apartheid as those opposed to abolition moved to places where they could practice racism and apartheid.
Kenya’s former Prime Minister Hon. Raila Odinga stated that African descendants had been humiliated for centuries and it was now time for Africa to stand up and say her people wherever they are, are part of this continent and are allowed to come back home. He said this was the beginning of liberating the people of African descent.
Other Heads of State and Government who spoke as well as various guests invited from America who included Jendayi Frazer and Bishop Claunde Alexander Jr. called for reconnection and reconciliation of Africans world wide in the spirit of Pan-Africanism saying the African spirit had not been broken in the last 400 years.
The leaders supported the move to have a conversation on areas of shared interests and values such as education, scholarships, business, creative arts, visa policies, tax policies and land ownership. They emphasized on the need to forge political, social and economic linkages with people of African descent in the diaspora saying there was need to create an education system that provided pride and identity for the African people.
In closing, President Kenyatta thanked the leaders for lending support to the initiative. He also emphasized on the need for the good intentions expressed to be put into action.