It has been roughly 170-175 years since the slave trade truly ceased in practice, but 218 years since the slave trade was legally abolished. Over two centuries down the line, President John Mahama has mentioned his intention to table a motion in the UN next year asking the world to recognise the slave trade as the greatest crime against humanity.

He made this revelation during a televised interview with a Chinese media house, China Global Television Network (CGTN), as part of Ghana–China’s 65th anniversary of diplomatic ties. Despite it being recognised ‘the greatest crime against humanity, President Mahama cited the free labour some Africans, including Ghanaians, were forced to offer, which he believes has significantly contributed to the Western World we see now.

“…..Suffered two serious crimes against humanity. The first was the slave trade, and I believe that that was the greatest crime against humanity, where between 12 and 15 million Africans were taken from Africa to the Caribbean and the Americas and Europe, and their labour was used to build what today is modern Western civilisation. This labour was unpaid. They were not remunerated for the work they did in the sugarcane fields, in building the railways, in building the roads, the bridges and all that. We believe that, first and foremost, it should be recognised as the greatest crime against humanity, and we must condemn the activity of slavery. That's the first step, for us to accept. And so Ghana wants to move a motion in the UN next year asking the world to recognise the slave trade as the greatest crime against humanity,” President Mahama said.

During the same engagement, he praised China for its longstanding and highly beneficial relationship with Ghana, highlighting the Asian country’s massive contributions to the local economy. While other countries have contributed to Ghana’s development and growth in terms of infrastructure, President Mahama says, China stands tall, crediting China for major power, water and road projects in Ghana.

President Mahama detailed that“ China has been pivotal in Africa's infrastructural development”. He continued that China’s support to Ghana in constructing a processing plant has aided the country in producing the bulk of the gas used to fire our power production in Ghana.

He said, “I can speak for Ghana. Um, we discovered huge quantities of gas offshore, and we decided that we wanted to use that gas for power, but you need to process that gas before you can generate power in a thermal plant. And so, China invested almost a billion dollars to set up our first gas processing plant at a place called Atuabo in Ghana. Up till today, it produces the biggest part of gas to fire our power production in Ghana, and so that is a symbol of the cooperation between China and Ghana.

We have our second-largest hydroelectric power dam at a place called Bui. Yeah, that was also a power plant that was built by China. Everywhere you look, you can find the footprints of China. Accra is our capital and the biggest city. Forty million gallons of the water, clean drinking water that is treated and pumped to Accra every day, is a result of a facility that was provided by China to expand the Pong water treatment plant.

"And so yes, China has been a partner when it comes to infrastructure development. I cannot talk about the roads, as for roads and bridges, there are so many of them. Yeah. And stadiums, markets. I would say that China has been pivotal in Africa's infrastructural development. In other places, they built railways that interconnect cities”.

The president revealed that it is for such partnerships that some African countries have been able to invest in important infrastructure and advance their development goals.

President Mahama added that, “China has been a true friend of Africa, and I believe that under the Belt and Road Initiative and under FOCAC, major infrastructural projects that are transformative have occurred in many African countries”.

He went on to charge Chinese industries to come and support Ghanaian ones to add value to raw products in Ghana to export back into the Chinese markets.

“We're looking on the Ghanaian side for Chinese industries to come and help us add value to the products that we have, so that we can export back into the Chinese market. Apart from that, there's the important issue of harmonisation of standards. Um, China has about 40 standards, and so we need to harmonise our standards with the Chinese standards,” highlighting the importance of the Ghana-China“zero tariffs policy, which was announced two months ago.

“The zero-tariff policy is now kicking in, and so I believe that it will create a conducive atmosphere for us to grow that trade even more”, he detailed.