AACC consultation interrogates ongoing engagements and theological reflections on reparations
The second day of the ongoing AACC’s consultation on African Perspectives on Decolonization and Reparations debates in Global Christianity held in Nairobi Kenya on 5th June 2025 opened with thought provoking conversations on Reparative Justice. To lay a foundation for the day’s business, Dr. Tinashe Gumbo, AACC programme executive for ecological and economic justice presented a paper on the development of the concept of Reparations in global conversations on development.
“There is no dispute about the fact that justice is required for the victims of serious violations resulting from historical crimes such as the Arabic and trans-Atlantic slave trade, colonialism, apartheid, and systemic discrimination.” He urged.
According to him, restoration should be a call for the transformation of the rules that govern the international economic and political game: trade, finance, and governance systems, which perpetuate injustices. Dr. Tinashe urged the Church in Africa to amplify its role in the Zacchaeus Tax Campaign, relaunched in Africa by the AACC together with other Ecumenical partners in 2023. He also encouraged the AU member states to not relent in their efforts to support the United Nations Tax Convention process to promote international tax cooperation, tackle tax avoidance, and raise the necessary public finance.
“I wish to express my support for the emerging school of thought pursued by Abdul Karim Bangura and others on deneocoloniality which argues that decoloniality school of thought focus on absolving those in the developing countries who are willing partners in perpetuating the oppressive mechanisms on their people. We have elements in Africa that have even established additional oppressive machinations on their people for their self-aggrandizement.” He noted in conclusion.
Reflecting on the biblical and theological understanding of reparations, Rev. Dr. Motuma Bedassa, from the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus, stressed the need to find a meeting point for repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation. His presentations stirred a heated theological debate on the interpretation of several biblical texts on reparations.
Feeding into the day’s opening session, Prof. Susan Kilonzo from Maseno University, Kenya, cautioned the forum against reading biblical texts selectively in a sense that would limit their deliberations to looking at reparations from only the aspect of historical colonialism.
“We also need to be alive to our current reality; the things that we do to each other as Africans backed by ethnicity, tribalism and other vices.” She emphasized.
In the photo: Day-two opening plenary in session [Courtesy - Muyunga Brian]
