KINGSTON, Jamaica — July 31, 2026 — The University of the West Indies (The UWI), partnering with the Office of the Prime Minister of Jamaica, is set to host a historic high-level conversation on reparatory justice during an official visit by Ghana President John Dramani Mahama to the Caribbean island nation.
The Special High-Level Reparation Dialogue, scheduled for Monday, August 3 at 4:30 p.m. Jamaica local time (5:30 p.m. Atlantic Standard Time for the Eastern Caribbean), will be held in the Eon Nigel Harris Council Room at The UWI’s Regional Headquarters in Jamaica. To expand access for regional and global audiences, the entire conversation will be streamed live via UWI tv across multiple platforms.
This one-on-one dialogue between President Mahama and The UWI Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, is rooted in the Ghanaian leader’s state visit to Jamaica, extended at the invitation of the Jamaican government. The event carries both timely relevance and deep symbolic weight, coming as the global movement for reparatory justice gains unprecedented momentum. It also reinforces The UWI’s long-standing position as the Caribbean’s leading intellectual hub and a key convener of critical discourse that shapes both regional policy and global advocacy efforts.
Unlike many general discussions on the topic, the exchange will directly connect historical documentation of transatlantic chattel slavery to modern policy frameworks. Attendees and viewers will explore the evolving global reparations agenda, map out legal and moral responsibilities of individual states, and examine the unique role academic and public institutions can play in advancing global equity and restorative justice.
The event’s full programme opens with introductory remarks from Professor Sonjah Stanley Niaah, Director of The UWI’s Centre for Reparation Research. Following the opening, President Mahama and Vice-Chancellor Beckles will deliver their prepared remarks before moving into the structured dialogue. A live question-and-answer session with in-person audience members will follow the core conversation, before a representative from Jamaica’s Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport delivers closing remarks that highlight the dialogue’s importance for both Jamaica and the wider Caribbean region.
Both working journalists and members of the general public are invited to access the free live stream through multiple channels, including UWI tv’s official website at www.uwitv.global, the platform’s social media accounts, and UWI tv’s dedicated Flow television channels across the Caribbean.