2ND RASTAFARI COUNCIL OF GHANA CONFERENCE

ACCRA, GHANA
5TH MARCH, 2017

CONFERENCE REPORT

This report is based on a conference that was organized by the Rastafari

Council of Ghana (hereafter the R.C.G. or the Council). The theme of the
conference was The Role of Rastafari in the African Reconstruction.
This report was prepared for the Council by Professor De-Valera
Botchway with the support of a dedicated team of reporters consisting of
Brother Popo Kalli, Moses Asante Mireku, and Original Ras Kobby.

The conference was chaired by: Ahuma “Daddy Bosco” Ocansey.

Personnel support was provided by several members of the Rastafari

community in Ghana.

The conference planning committee consisted of Ahuma “Daddy Bosco”

Ocansey, Ancient Abednego, Uncle Nash Laryea, Prez Khex, Moses
Asante Mireku, Blakk Authority, Ras Pelpuo, Reuben Ato, Irie Rahman,
Ras Malcolm and Ras Enoch Dogbe.

The R.C.G. gives thanks all the people who participated in the intensive
one day of discussions. It is appreciative of all who contribution in
manifold ways to get the 2nd R.C.G. Conference to occur successfully. It is
also grateful to all those who contributed in diverse ways to bring the
R.C.G. into being.

The Council also expresses its heartfelt gratefulness to Brother Jobo, the
cameraman, for videoing the conference and taken memorable photos of
the event. Further updates about the R.C.G. conference and the photos
may be found on the Council’s Facebook page and website.

Brief History of Rastafari in Ghana

Rastafari emerged in Jamaica in the 1930s, but the advent of Rastafari in

Ghana occurred in the 1960s. Ghana was born as a new nation state in
Africa when a formal declaration of independence was made for the Gold
Coast in 1957. The building and rooting of Rastafari in Ghana proceeded
from the tireless pioneering efforts of some African diasporans, who
returned to the country to reunite with their African family to generate
the Africa renaissance together in the spirit of Pan Africanism, which is a
cornerstone of Rastafari. The early pioneers included a delegation of
Rastafari elders from Jamaica that visited Ghana to have a meeting with
Kwame Nkrumah, the first President of Ghana. The efforts to organise
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the movement in Ghana continued during the 1970s. By 1975 a pioneer
like Wolde Mikal, a Jamaican who had returned to Ghana, and other
returnees had managed to congregate a group, which became affiliated
to the Ethiopian World Federation (hereafter E.W.F.). Prophet Gad’s visit
to Ghana in the mid 1980s also led to the emergence of followers of his
Twelve Tribe of Israel (hereafter T.T.I.) group.1

Since then, Rastafari, represented by the various mansions (groups),

endeavoured to grow steadily despite the lack of a unifying umbrella
organisation to serve as a powerful mouth piece for the Rastafari
mansions and coordinate their activities in Ghana. A major effort to forge
Inity (Unity) between the Rastafari congregations occurred in 1992. This
venture was spearheaded by a Tanzanian called Joshua N. Mkhululi and
some other Rastafari in Ghana. Consequently, the first Inity meeting was
held at the La Pleasure Beach. However, a solid umbrella organisation
could not be established.

Despite these struggles, Rastafari continued to make a greater

appearance on the national scene since the 1990s. It has strongly
entered into the post colonial public discourse as a movement which has
a multifaceted nature as a way of life that sets those who follow it on a
quest for African cultural awakening, spiritual enlightenment, Pan
Africanism, peace and love among humankind, and political, economic
and cultural freedom for global Africa.

Rastafari and the R.C.G. in the National Setting

Rastafari has continued to inspire its followers, who are spread

throughout Ghana to do two things. First, organise and centralise to form
a formidable front to grow and promote and protect the collective and
personal interest of members and, second, fashion a stronger voice and
speech to contribute to national discussions about national, continental
and global development, justice and peace.

The persistence by Rastafari, over the years, to give Rastafari more verve
and organise itself into a force to reckon with in the nation building
process of Ghana, never abated. It was from this unending effort to
support the further growth of Rastafari that the R.C.G. was established in
Accra by some representatives of the various mansions of Rastafari and
individuals who possessed a good track record in Rastafari affairs in
Ghana. These included Ahuma “Daddy Bosco” Ocansey, Uncle Nash
Laryea, who was the founding organising secretary, Jah B, Ancient Likkle
Joe, Aswad, Prez Khex, True I, Ras Collins, Ras Mokato, and Nana
Agyeman. The R.C.G. was launched on March 2, 2009. The keynote

1
Neil J. Savishinsky, “Rastafari in the Promised Land: The Spread of a Jamaican Socioreligious Movement
Among the Youth of West Africa”, African Studies Review, 37, 3, 1994, 19-50.
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speaker for that launching ceremony was Dr. Yaw Graham of Third World
Network. The guest of honour was Mr. Kwasi Pratt (Jnr.), the Managing
Editor of the newspaper call Insight.

As an overarching body of Rastafari in the country, the Council was

mandated to do certain things. Primary of this mandate was for it to
organise and coordinate the activities Rastafari and act as the facilitator
of corporation between Rastafari and other stakeholders for mutual
positive benefits and to promote national, continental and global
development. Additional central tasks of the R.C.G. are to: (i) promote
unity among the various mansions, organisations and individual Rastafari
in Ghana; (ii) represent Rastafari to government and similar identifiable
bodies; (iii) provide a one stop solution resource base to all who
repatriate to Ghana and Africa where necessary; (iv) seek the mutual
interest of all Rastafari in Ghana where possible; (iv) provide financial or
material support to needy Rastafari; and (v) engineer youth development
and educational programmes.

The R.C.G. Conferences

1st Conference, (March 2nd 2016, Accra)

It was in line with the longstanding and imperative objective of

organising and centralising Rastafari that the R.C.G., which is currently
the formal congregation of Rastafari in the country, organised the 1 st
R.C.G. Conference in Accra, on March 2 nd 2016. The conference reviewed
the progress of the efforts of Rastafari in Ghana and Africa towards the
smooth resettling of Africans from the African diaspora. It also appraised
the nature and state of regulations concerning resettlement in Ghana,
and considered the role of repatriation to Ghana and Africa development.
Finally, it also discussed a plan of action for Rastafari in Ghana and
Africa.

The key speakers at that conference were Honourable Samia Nkrumah,

the daughter of Kwame Nkrumah and a renowned statesperson, and
Nana Kobina Nketsia IV, who is the Omanhene (Paramount Chief) of
Essikadu and a historian from the Department of History, University of
Cape Coast, Ghana. It was a successful event. Due to the success of the
first one a second conference was planned. Consequently, the 2 nd R.C.G.
Conference was organised and it took place on 5th March 2017, in Accra.

The 2nd Conference (March 5th 2016, Accra)

Significantly, the 2nd R.C.G. Conference was auspiciously planned to take

place in the month of March so that the R.C.G. will use the opportunity to
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show felicity to the anniversary celebration of two major events in history
which occurred in March: Ethiopia’s defeat of Italian imperial army in the
Battle of Adwa (Adowa or Adua) in March 1-2, 1896 and the proclamation
of Ghana’s independence on the eve of March 6, 1957.

These two main events in African and global history symbolise African
resistance and ability to triumph over imperialism and colonialism, and
Africa’s inalienable right to self determination. Thus, the conference
became a place for the Council to reflect over Africa’s history of freedom,
slavery, imperialism and colonialism, African renaissance, African
resistance to any form of domination on the continent and the global
scene, repatriation and reparation, and the state of Rastafari in Ghana.
Second, it served as a platform where the congregation of Rastafari and
sympathisers of Rastafari, between 200 and 300 men, women and
children, listened to a keynote lecture, which was given by Professor
Horace Campbell who is a prominent Jamaican scholar and the current
Kwame Nkrumah chair at the University of Ghana. This seasoned scholar
of Pan Africanism and African Studies is especially famous in Rastafari
circles for his book Rasta and Resistance: From Marcus Garvey to Walter
Rodney (1985).

Opening of the conference

The conference started at 12:30 p.m. Elder Ancient Likkle Joe was the
one who offered the opening benedictory prayer.

Chairperson’s Opening Remarks

The President of the R.C.G. and chairperson of the conference, Ahuma

“Daddy Bosco” Ocansey, welcomed the conferees in his opening speech.
He reminded them about some of the major themes and endeavours of
the 1st R.C.G. Conference. The work of both the persons who produced a
draft of the R.C.G. constitution and the advocacy committee on the
decriminalisation of marijuana was also commended. He applauded all
those who offered their excellent services to the various fields of
endeavour of the R.C.G. He addressed the gathering about the visions of
the Council and the purpose of the second conference. He updated the
assembly about the extent to which the Council had moved with its
drawing up a constitution, and strengthening its credit union known as
the Black Star Line Corporation Credit Union (B.S.L.C.C.U.) since the 1 st
R.C.G. Conference. He pointed out that the credit union, which was in
operation, was well. He assured the gathering that much had also been
achieved by way of forging the constitution of the R.C.G., with just a little
fleshing left to be done to the draft to get it ready before elections by
May 2017. The President assured the multitude that the common
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reprehensible practice where Rasta children were discriminated against
in schools and not given admission in some schools, because of their hair
style, was still an urgent issue which the Council had to collectively fight
in a constitutional and legal way. Regarding the issue of the legalisation
of marijuana for medicinal use in Ghana, the President also reminded the
conferees that measures were being put in place to lobby the government
of the New Patriotic Party (N.P.P.) for the “herb” and the use of it to be
decriminalised. Moreover, the President thanked the Ghana government,
on behalf of the R.C.G., for conferring citizenship on about 34 members
from the African diaspora who had taken residence in Ghana in
December 2016. On that note, the President commended Ghana for being
a trailblazer in Pan African affairs. Additionally, he mentioned that the
R.C.G. intended to take advantage of the incumbent government’s
agricultural initiatives to provide some jobs for Rastafari in the country.

Message from B.S.L.C.C.U.

The Assistant Manager of the B.S.L.C.C.U. reminded the gathering about

the significance of the famous Ethiopian African defeat of Italian
European Imperial forces at Adwa, which was a principal repulsion of the
onslaught of European imperialism on African freedom and
independence. He implied that the Adwa Victory should be a symbolic
reminder to all Rastafari and Africans about the principle and
accessibility of African self determination and heroism in all spheres of
life. The representative of the B.S.L.C.C.U. espoused the values of the
credit union to the conferees and explained to them that it was
fundamentally a self-help venture of and for Rastafari, associated with
the Council, and true sympathisers of Rastafari to promote the Garveyite
principle of African economic self sufficiency and independence.
Touching on how valuable it was for all to cultivate a constant saving
habit towards wealth creation, he reminded the conference participants
that saving with financial institutions operated by “former” colonial
elements and multinational corporations facilitated the continuous
transfer of Ghanaian and African wealth to non African people for the
development of themselves, and their societies, companies and countries.
Members were, therefore, urged to join the union, which was an African
economic initiative. Finally, he announced the union’s very attractive
Treasury bill rates and asked the public to visit its website for detailed
information on its products and packages.

Goodwill Messages
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Several solidarity messages were given by some Rasta elders and youth
on behalf of the Rasta families, mansions and organisations in some of
the administrative regions in Ghana. Messages came from the Asante,
Eastern, Central, Northern and Upper West regions. The common thread
of thought in these messages was the notion of Rastafari and African
unity. All the messages emphasised the need for the virtues of unity and
collective efforts to be pursued among the Rasta family, Ghanaians and
Africans on the continent and in the diaspora. There were also goodwill
messages from South Africa and England. The President of Rastafari
United Front (R.U.F.), Elder Ras Jahco, sang the R.U.F’s. anthem, which
emphasises unity. He passionately pleaded that African political leaders
and heads of state should unite the continent and get rid of the artificial
colonial and neo-colonial borders that partition Africa. He spoke amidst
tears as he simply called for the unity of states for a sustainable
reconstruction of the continent.

The message from the E.W.F. came from its representative, Elder Ras
Abednego. The E.W.F commended the President of the R.C.G. for the
exceptional leadership provided and admonished member mansions to
stay untied in purpose, so that the R.C.G. can forge ahead in strength. He
also spoke of the role of Rastafari as a movement for nation building and
playfully, but symbolically, mentioned to the attention of the participants
about preparing the chairman for the conference for political portfolio in
the national politics of Ghana.

The T.T.I., which was represented by elder Sister Diana, commended the
Council for its effort to unite the fraternity. She also asked the leadership
of the Council to approach the new government of Ghana, that is, the
political administration of the N.P.P., to give citizenship status to other
Africans from the Africa diaspora who had been residing in Ghana but did
not get the citizenship status when Ghana granted it to some others in
December 2016. In addition, the representative from Asante Region
reminded members at the conference that Asante had a very big
community of African people who had repatriated from the African
diaspora and so the Council should extend its hand to Asante to find this
community and work with it for mutual benefit. The representative
lamented that the R.C.G. executive had not really connected very well
with the Rastafari in Asante. He, therefore, mentioned that, as a matter
of urgency, the executive body of the R.C.G. needed to support, help and
encourage the brothers and sisters in Asante for them to organize
properly and effectively.

Ras Relpuo who spoke for the Rastafari in the Upper West Region
commended the Council for its attempt to have a national reach. He
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reported that the small group of Rastafari in the Upper West Region was
endeavouring, albeit not easy, to strengthen collaboration in their
community and promote their social wellbeing. Additionally, the Northern
Region representative, Ras Sulphur, thanked the R.C.G. for the
opportunity to be part of the conference and asked for more
collaboration with Tamale Rastafari Organization (T.R.O).

The Eastern Region was also represented by Ras Sweet from Aburi. The
spokesperson for the region stressed the importance of the idea and
practice of unity among Rastafari and asked that support should be
found and given to the professional area of art and craft in order to
improve it because many of the Rasta youth in the Eastern Region were
seriously engaged in that field of economic and cultural work. The
representative also asked for the support of the R.C.G. in organizing the
Rastafari brothers and sisters in that region. Moreover, the Ghana
Reggae Network, which seeks to promote reggae music and reggae
artistes in Ghana and internationally, also commended the Council for
organising the conference. The network was represented by Jah Gold. He
took time to remind the need for Rastafari to know and appreciate the
fact that the longstanding African struggle for independence was still an
imperative today. He reminded them that it was this enduring principle
that animated Ethiopia’s resolve to defend itself against evil European
imperialists in history. Illustratively, he reiterated the events that led to
Ethiopia’s victory at Adwa and how it represented the natural order that
good will always triumph over evil. He commended and thanked
Professor Horace Campbell for his book Rasta and Resistance for the
energy, understanding and inspiration that many of the Rastafari youth of
his generation in Ghana got from the book.

Dr. Neo Lekgotla laga Ramoupi, a Senior Researcher of the Monitoring

and Evaluation Directorate of the Council on Higher Education (CHE) in
South Africa (S.A.), was the bearer of the goodwill message from S.A. Dr.
Ramoupi, who is also a 2016 African Humanities Program (AHP) Post-
Doctoral Fellow in Residence at the University of Ghana, Legon, praised
the support that African countries gave to the struggle against apartheid.
Thus, he complained that it was a shame that xenophobia had become a
canker eating away the fabric of unity between South Africans and other
African nationals. He bemoaned xenophobia and the current xenophobic
attacks in S.A. He asked for calm and peace in S.A. and called for unity
among Africans. He condemned the very unfortunate incidents of
xenophobia in S.A and asked the R.C.G. to fully condemn such acts. He
asked all present at the conference to be abreast of the history of Africa
and its struggles against imperial threats and Africa’s triumphs. He
advocated that the serious learning of the African liberation struggle
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should be part of the curriculum of schools in Ghana and the African
continent and diaspora as a whole. He was also of the view that since
most of the political establishments in Africa were not paying attention to
the Pan African agenda of repatriation and Africa’s reconstruction and
renaissance, there was the need for the Rastafari movement to be
oxygenated and energized to find ways to practically be in command of
the affairs of the continent politically.

Finally, the solidarity message from the Rastafari in the U.K. was given. It
was delivered by the elder Rastaman activist Wolde Gabre, who is
affectionately known as Jah Blue. The elder disclosed his joy about the
efforts of the R.C.G. in unifying all the fronts of the Rastafari community
in Ghana. He advised that the Rastafari should unite strongly like never
before and always remember the trailblazers who had transited from the
flesh and the elders who were yet to make their transition, and draw
inspiration from them to continue with the livity, which is the Rastafari
positive and conscience-backed way and view of life.

Keynote Lecture

After the messages came the delivery of the keynote lecture. It was well
conveyed and it received a very long ovation. The title of the lecture was
the same as the theme of the conference.

In brief, Professor Horace Campbell made it clear to the participants to

see themselves as members of a pioneer Pan African group to take lead
in the reconstruction of the African continent. He mentioned that
Rastafari had been famous for being a movement of resistance to
injustice, imperialism, colonialism and neo-colonialism. However, he
added that it was also a movement that must strongly take its rightful
stride towards the praxis of the reconstruction of African society, politics,
and economics. Describing the movement as a group that had made a
quantum leap in defining its spiritually through its own lenses, he asked
the movement not to retreat from its Pan African vision of positively
transforming, unifying and building Africa. He advised Rastafari to take
keen interest in nation building and fight against all forms of foreign
invasion. He condemned the N.A.T.O. attack on both Libya and the person
of Colonel Gaddafi. Gaddafi was a champion of a real African Union
continental government. The speaker therefore rationalised the attack on
Gaddafi as an imperialist attempt to prevent the creation of a union
government for the whole African continent. He also lamented about
some internal problems in Africa, highlighting the problem of xenophobia
of Africans against other Africans. He called on the Council to make
statements to condemn the recent acts of xenophobia in S.A. because

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Africa was for Africans at home and abroad. He commended the Ghana
government for its recent smart step to offer citizenship certificates to
Africans from the African diaspora living in Ghana. Mentioning that
Rastafari must be determined towards the reconstruction of African self
dignity, he reminded the R.C.G. to deem it necessary to encourage more
women to join the movement and rise to important positions in it. This,
he said, was humanly proper and also necessary since it will prevent the
growth of the outside perception that Rastafari is a male dominated and
sexist movement. He was of the opinion that Rastafari must not deviate
from the teachings of H.I.M Emperor Haile Sellasie on spirituality,
otherwise it will become like any unguarded and division riddled religion.
The music of Rastafari, he noted, was a powerful tool of engineering
society. Thus, he pleaded that its must continuously be used to preach
ways of healing the Africa body, mind, spirit and soul, and firing the spirit
of emancipation, the emancipation of the mind, into the African people to
align them with the necessary reconstruction and renaissance the African
nation.

In addition to the keynote lecture, Professor De-Valera Botchway, a

historian and faculty member of the Department of History, University of
Cape Coast, who was a guest of honour and Rapporteur-General of the
conference, provided a short discussion of his views about the
imperativeness of Rastafari unity to Ghana’s national growth and Pan
Africanism. He shared his intellectual position about the concept of
African Identity, which he believed was a necessary ingredient to any
programme that was directed at African reconstruction and resurgence.
On that issue, he talked about how he viewed African Identity. He
deemed that character as inextricably tied to and obtained from the
principle and responsibility called allegiance to the real or imagined
entity of a nation called Africa. He emphasised that primarily it was
allegiance to that which is called Africa that conferred the African
Identity. Furthermore, he stressed the need for Rastafari to proactively
dispel the lies and societal misconceptions about them. He advised that
Rastafari should be vigilante and expose those who did anti social things,
such as the peddling of drugs, to tarnish the image of Rastafari. He
advised that Ghanaian and African political power wielders and leaders
should dutifully enforce an education of emancipation strategy to
conscientise the people about the African liberation struggle and need for
reconstruction.

Conferment of the title of Ras on Professor Horace Campbell and

donation of books to the Council

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After these speeches by the two university dons, a citation was read by
one elder of the R.C.G. for Professor Campbell. Furthermore, the Council
conferred on him the Rastafari revered honorific Amharic title of Ras (lit.
Head or Leader). These two honours were offered to show the
appreciation of the R.C.G. to the scholar’s commitment to advancing
knowledge about African Studies and Rastafari. The citation, which was
read by Elder Ras Jahco, also congratulated the keynote speaker for the
hard work that he was championing to support Pan-Africanism and the
African international struggle for total freedom and independence. The
tributes were also to thank Professor Ras Horace Campbell for honouring
the invitation of the Council and delivering the keynote address. Finally,
the Council awarded an artefact in the form of a shield, which was
adorned with Rastafari symbols, to the Professor. Sister Diana from the
T.T.I. in Ghana did the presentation.

As a side show, a British tourist and librarian, called Kweku Broni Utley,
who sympathises with the African liberation struggle and admires the
courage of Rastafari to confront injustices and oppression anywhere on
the globe, donated some books to the R.C.G. These included How Europe
Underdeveloped Africa, Slaves in Slavery, African Mythology and
Blackman’s Burden. He was remorseful and condemned the injustices
and brutalities, slavery, colonialism, and neo colonialism that Europe and
other global political and economic powers inflicted on Africa and other
parts of the world.

Outcome of the Council’s deliberations on the Constitution and

the Principles of Repatriation and Reparation

Furthermore, Professor Botchway reminded the conference participants

that there were to key tasks that the conference had committed itself to
and which had to be undertaken by participants before the adjournment
of conference. The first was connected to the issue of forging the R.C.G.
constitution. The second was related to the principles of reparation and
repatriation. The conference, therefore, wanted to solicit the views of the
members to review and overhaul parts of the constitution and also to
help the R.C.G. to contribute to the national, continental and
international discourse on repatriation and reparation. Towards this end,
he indicated that participants were, therefore, to propose and discuss
amendments to the drafted constitution. Secondly, they were to dissect
and discuss the twin principles of repatriation and reparation and offer
some views. First, they were to consider how these principles were to be
achieved, but the conferees were also to evaluate them to see if they
were necessary at all; and, second, they were to identify the position of
the R.C.G. on them. Ultimately, the views to be elicited from the
10
conferees, it was hoped, would help the conference take some resolutions
on the repatriation and reparation. The Rapporteur-General indicated
that there would be a session after lunch to cater for the business.
Consequently, the first part of the conference ended and participants
went on a lunch break.

After the lunch break the conferees resumed. They were then organised
into two teams to deal with the issues of the final review of the
constitution and repatriation and repartition. One team was tasked to
deal with the constitution. The facilitator was Rasta elder Original Ras
Kobby. The other team, which had Brother Popo Kalli as facilitator, was
given the responsibility of discussing the ramifications and focus of the
principles of repatriation and reparation, which were of high importance
to the R.C.G. After deliberating and building ideas in the spirit of
democratic consensus, between 50 to 60 minutes, each team came up
with their conclusions. The team facilitators presented the findings of
their groups to the general assembly of conferees. After scrutinizing the
reports from the group moderators with queries, and strengthening the
reports with comments from the participants, the R.C.G. unanimously
deemed the findings appropriate to be adopted and supported as the
recommendations and resolutions of the 2nd R.C.G. Conference in 2017.

During the deliberations, the issue of reparation and repatriation

churned out many questions. These revolved around issues like, who in
the African family should be paid? What should be the payment? How
much should be paid? Should the compensation package be given to a
government in Africa? Some members were of the view that the payment
should not be primarily construed as money or material things. Rather,
the biggest part of the compensation from the governments of the
European powers and other non African societies that engaged in the
enslavement and selling of Africans should be an apology. They should
publicly and internationally make a bold and remorseful declaration that
they had committed a crime against Africa and humanity ask for pardon.
This, then, should be followed by any other compensation that can help
to rebuild Africa. The issue of putting in place an educational system that
will make Africans conscious so that they will not allow the holocaust of
Africans through slavery and colonialism to happen again came up.
Unanimously, the idea that repatriation was imperative was agreed on. It
was the desire of all the deliberators that governments and countries in
Africa should put in place friendly systems to formally accept Africans in
the diaspora who make a fervent move and honest request for citizenship
and integration into African communities on the continent. At the end of
the deliberations some recommendations were made. Thus, a summary of

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the recommendations and resolutions of the R.C.G. Conference of 2017
are as follows.

Regarding the issues of Reparation and Repatriation it is the firm

conviction of the R.C.G. that:

1. The West and other nations that engaged in the enslavement of

Africans, through both the Trans Saharan Trade and Trans Atlantic
Trade, should apologize and admit that they have committed a
crime against the African peoples and against humanity.

2. Reparation cannot be paid to governments in Africa at the moment

because most governmental institutions don’t support that
principle. However, anyone who seeks reparation must not abandon
that desire. They must have a personal project proposal and submit
it when an outlet for reparation is created by the R.C.G.

3. National textbooks should teach that the European powers did not
come to Africa to civilize the people; they came and committed a
crime against the people and the land. They enslaved the people
and raped the land of its culture and natural resources.

4. Persons in Europe and the Americas who are descendants of

enslaved Africans seeking to repatriate must be given a reward
package. Their taxes and pensions must be paid by the
governments of the American and European countries from where
they want to repatriate.

5. The African Union must not be quiet about reparation. However,

before any claim of Reparation can be made legitimate and
constructive the leaders of Africa must unite the governments.

6. The R.C.G. must urged African Governments and leaders to give

citizenship status to repatriated Africans from the diaspora living in
Africa, in emulation and continuation of what the state of Ghana
started in 2016 when she granted citizenship to about 34 persons
who had repatriated from the African diaspora to Ghana.

7. The R.C.G. must advise African leadership that form the Assembly
of the African Union to recognize countries of the Sixth Region of
Africa, that is, the Blackman and Blackwoman states in the African
Diaspora, as key members of the African Renaissance project.

8. The R.C.G. must speak out and encourage a country like Haiti work
with the African Union.

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On the issue of forging the constitution of the R.C.G. it is the firm
conviction of the R.C.G. that a constitution which was lucid, authoritative
and binding, and practical should be built. After reviewing a draft, the
conference agreed that certain unclear and ambiguous words had to be
made clear. Furthermore, it came up that being a Rastafari, regardless of
one’s mansion, was a prerequisite to membership. Therefore, the
question of who is a Rastafari needed to be clarified in the constitution. It
also became evident from the deliberations that the demography of
Rastafari was growing and would continue to grow and therefore it was
important for R.C.G. offices to be set up in all the administrative regions
in the country to cater for the regional needs and activities of Rastafari in
the country. Furthermore, unclear issues about general elections and by
elections, registration fee for individuals and mansions, and eligibility of
members to occupy executive offices were discussed. Suggestions were
made to bring lucidity to them. Ultimately, the R.C.G. agreed at the
conference that the constitution should have to be built and strengthened
with the following suggestions and ideas and corrections:

Preamble

I. Rastafari replaced Rastafarians

II. … in order to effect Unity, Solidarity, Development in Africa
(inserted) and secure Justice…

Section 2

Objectives

The 6th objective was deleted and inserted into Section 6 . . . .

Eligibility to office

Section 4

Headquarters shall be in Accra however the Council shall have

regional offices with regional representatives appointed by the
Council.

Section 6

Eligibility to office.

. . . Officers of the Council must have an account with the Black Star
Line Cooperative Credit Union.

A Rastafari is a person who accepts the divinity of Emperor Haile

Selassie I of Ethiopia and strives to uphold his teachings and
directives.
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Section 9

Membership

Every registered member of the Rastafari Council of Ghana shall be a

member of the General Assembly.

Any mansion or organization that would like to join the Council will
have to satisfy an additional criterion

 A bank account with the Black Star Line Cooperative Union

Section 12

Joining Fee:

 Joining Fee of Mansions has been reduced to GHC 100.00.

Individual members are now allowed to join the Council at a
joining fee of GHC40
 Section 13. Dues: Member mansions and organizations are now
assigned GHC100 annual dues whereas individual members will
pay GHC 10 monthly dues. This amount will be reviewed
periodically.

Section 15

Conventions: The Council will have a triennial Convention….

Section 17

Sections; 17a, 17b, 17c has been added to Section 17

Section 17a

THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION AND THE COMMISSIONER

1. There shall exist in the Council an Electoral Commission which

shall be responsible for conducting and presiding over all elections.
2. The Electoral Commission shall consist of
a. The Electoral Commissioner
b. Deputy Electoral Commissioner
c. And any other three members elected by the members of the
association
3. Members of the Electoral Commission shall be appointed and
approved by the general assembly.

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 4. Nominations shall be opened in April as an election year and
application to that effect shall be submitted to the secretary of the
Electoral Commission.
5. The Electoral Commission shall call for nomination forms for the
executive offices specified.

Section 17b

THE ELECTIONS

1. The elections of executives shall be held at a general meeting

called for that purpose.

2. Elections shall be by public voting through the secret ballot.

3. Nominations shall be opened for one month to allow interested

members to file their nominations to contest the elections.

4. Winning the election shall be by simple majority.

Section 17c

BYE-ELECTION

1. Any vacancy created by the resignation, death or removal from office

in accordance with this constitution, shall be filled by an election
conducted on the lines stipulated.

Section 21

Meetings

The Council shall meet at least every month of the year thirty six
times before a triennial convention.

(This replaces a quarterly annual meeting and a biennial

convention)

Section 23

Executive Committee: The offices of the Women’s Commissioner

and the International Relations Officer has been added to the
Executive Committee

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 Section 29

The Women’s auxiliary team has been changed to Women’s

Commission

(d)Women’s Commission: A three member committee to coordinate

the activities of the Empresses of Rastafari in Ghana.

Final Observations of the Rapporteur General after Break out

session

In his final remarks Professor Botchway thanked the teams for the good
suggestions that they proffered to the R.C.G. He also mentioned that it
was important for African governments to engineer a reorientation of the
contents of African history book in African schools to reflect the true
history of Africa’s position in world affairs. He added that it was
necessary and right for the evils perpetrated by slavery, colonialism and
neo-colonialism to be known and understood by Africans. Moreover, it
was compulsory for the government and political orders that perpetrated
and perpetuated these evil historical occurrences and systems, which
still have ramifications and far reaching consequences in contemporary
time, to render a formal apology to Africa and compensate the land and
nation. He was optimistic that the Council would work diligently with the
recommendations and resolutions. He was also hopeful that the
constitution would be made ready shortly.

Adjournment of the Conference

In his concluding comments for the conference, the President of the

R.C.G. and chairman of the conference expressed the Council’s
thankfulness to the resource persons, guests and Rastafari who were at
the conference and those that were not present, but had worked in
various ways to support the conference. He encouraged all the members
of the R.C.G. to actively participate in the upcoming elections of
executive office holders for the R.C.G. in May 2017. He formally
announced an adjournment of the conference. A final benedictory prayer
was the offered. A photo shoot session and socialisation for the conferees
followed.

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