NewzPresident John Dramani Mahama has rejected arguments that African countries should first develop modern museums and conservation facilities before cultural artefacts taken during colonial rule are returned. According to the President, concerns about Africa’s capacity to preserve returned heritage should not be used to justify the continued possession of African cultural property by institutions abroad. “Capacity constraints must never be used as a justification for continued possession.
Capacity must serve as a bridge to return, not a barrier to justice,” he said at a high-level side event at the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, September 24. President Mahama said African countries were already developing institutions and infrastructure capable of receiving, preserving and researching returned cultural treasures. He pointed to the African Union’s plans for the Great African Museum, the AU-EU Museum Partnership and Ghana’s own efforts to strengthen national and traditional institutions as evidence of the continent’s commitment to preserving its heritage.
He called for international partners to support African countries with technology, conservation expertise, digitisation and professional training rather than using capacity limitations to delay restitution. President John Dramani Mahama has called for the establishment of a permanent international system under the United Nations to facilitate the return of African cultural properties taken during colonial conquest. He said existing restitution efforts are too dependent on individual countries or institutions voluntarily returning selected objects, creating what he described as a piecemeal approach to a matter requiring a coordinated global response.
Addressing the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, President Mahama said that holding countries should work with the United Nations to develop standardised legal and diplomatic procedures covering provenance research, access to archives and restitution claims. “Our NEXT STEP is to build a permanent, institutionalised global system,” he said. President Mahama said such a system should make archives more transparent, simplify provenance investigations and reduce legal barriers that prevent unconditional restitution.
He argued that the process must move beyond isolated acts of goodwill towards predictable mechanisms that allow countries and communities to pursue the return of their cultural heritage. He said Ghana’s position was anchored in the belief that restitution is not merely about recovering physical objects but about restoring historical memory and dignity to communities whose heritage was removed from them.
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