African Union (AU) member states have been asked by President John Dramani Mahama to strengthen their ties to the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (AfCHPR), which is located in Arusha.
President Mahama made the plea during the commencement of the 2026 Judicial Year and the 20th Anniversary of the AfCHPR in Arusha, Tanzania.
“Now is the time to deepen our commitment to the Court, so that in 20 years, when we celebrate its 40th anniversary, it will stand as the leading international judicial body and a model for others. Now is the time for Africa to step into its greatness,” President Mahama declared.
President Mahama urged the AU members who had not yet ratified the AfCHPR Protocol to do so right now.
“To my colleagues in those countries, I assure you that you have nothing to fear from this Court. I humbly ask all African nations and individuals to respect and implement the Court’s judgements in good faith,” he stated.
President Mahama urged them to declare that people and non-governmental organisations would have direct access to the Court.
He said that after Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was overthrown in a military coup d’état on February 24, 1966, his late father, Mr. E.A. Mahama, a minister under Ghana’s first president, went through hardships.
His father was asked to report to the police station “for his own safety,” along with other state ministers, members of parliament, and other public servants.
He was questioned, arrested, and held there for more than a year. Eight years later, in 1974, Colonel I.K. Acheampong, our third military ruler and previous head of state, was in charge of Ghana, according to President Mahama.
After writing the letter instructing the Head of State in the early 1970s, the President pointed out that his father’s political struggles continued after his incarceration.
He asserted that while many others endured even more injustice and violations of their rights and dignity, his father was forced to live in exile for 13 years following another coup d’état.
He claimed that many people have experienced severe adversity at some point in their lives.
“My father’s political tribulations did not end with his detention after he wrote the letter advising the Head of State,” he stated.
“He had to live in exile for 13 years after another coup d’état.,” he continued. However, many more experienced much more injustice and violations of their rights and dignity. Many people have experienced severe adversity at some point in their lives.
The Lumumbas, Mondlane, Sankaras, Cabrals, Prempehs, Yaa Asantewas, Kabalegas, Nujomas, Mandelas, and Bikos were all acknowledged as martyrs of the African Revolution, according to the President.
He stated that these serious cases of injustice and violations of human rights would have been crucial to decide if the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights had been established sooner.
He pointed out that they would have obtained justice against colonialists, racist apartheid criminals, and even their own repressive African tyrants who slaughtered and tortured a great number of people.
He claimed that every country on the African continent looked out for one another.
“I truly believe this. I also believe that each of us is a keeper of the dreams and hopes our ancestors could not achieve,” he said.
“We can pave the way for their dreams to be realised, if not by us, then by the generations succeeding us,” he added.
Declaring, “In Ghana, we are strengthening our judicial systems,” the President said that African justice systems have improved over the previous few decades.
“As I stand and recollect my youth, and my fear for my father through my recurring nightmares, I realise that I can put those fears to rest.”
He claimed that during the previous 20 years, they had a court that could defend African people’s rights and dignity outside of their own countries.
“So, allow me to say, while I am here in this historic city of Arusha, a city well known as the site where human rights are affirmed and the dignity of African people is protected, that the time is now for us to meet the challenge of keeping the promises we have made to future generations, promises we have signed and pledged to uphold,” he continued.
Source: newsthemegh.com