Kemi Badenoch says Africans should apologise for slavery

Kemi Badenoch has argued that if Caribbean countries seek an apology from Britain for its role in the transatlantic slave trade, they should also demand apologies from African rulers and merchants who captured and sold people. The piece says this comparison obscures how the trade operated and who continues to benefit from it. Historians Panashe Chigumadzi and Bayo Holsey describe slavery as a system driven by European demand for labour in the Americas and Caribbean, built on racial laws that made Black people vulnerable to enslavement. By the late 17th century, plantation demand had intensified capture through warfare and raids.

African participation by some traders does not make African nations equivalent to Britain, Europe or the United States, the historians argue. The trade forcibly shipped an estimated 12.5 million Africans across the Atlantic, killing many before and during the crossing, depopulating regions and destabilising societies. Wealth gained by some African individuals was largely lost under colonial rule, while Western economies retained lasting advantages. Britain’s post-abolition compensation further illustrates the imbalance: in 1833, it paid enslavers - not enslaved people or their descendants - 40% of the national budget, with the debt cleared only in 2015. Several African governments have apologised or offered citizenship to diasporans, but such gestures have not repaired deep economic harms. The proposed way forward is cooperation between African nations and the diaspora, rather than shifting responsibility onto Africa.