This October will be the tenth anniversary of the passing of Rasta legend Seymour ‘Book Liberator’ McLean. Of his many achievements, one that many will remember him is for his exposure of the industrial scale theft of Afrikan artefacts by European colonial powers. In his case he highlighted the Ethiopian Magdala manuscripts, which along with other antiques were plundered by Britain are said to be worth over four billion pounds. (1)

Ethiopia is just one nation, so the extent of stolen loot from the entire continent is almost unimaginable. In fact, a 2018 attempt to quantify it can be found in a report by academics Bénédicte Savoy and Felwine Sarr, which claimed that “around 90 to 95 percent of African cultural heritage is held overseas.” (2) Popular targets include “the Benin kingdom in Nigeria, the Dahomey kingdom in Benin [Republic] and the Ashanti kingdom in Ghana.” (3)

This issue was brought to the fore again last month when the British Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London announced that between them they would be returning seventeen items of “Asante royal regalia looted by British troops during the Anglo-Asante wars of 1873-74 and 1895-96.” They represent a small fraction of the artefacts held in the U.K. The pieces will be displayed at the Manhyia Palace Museum in Kumasi, Ghana. (4) However, the kicker though is that the items are not being given back to their rightful owners, only loaned – for six years. For this privilege, the Manhyia Palace Museum will have to pay insurance to a selected British insurance firm, pay for the transportation and courier costs, crating and packing materials, and photograph the condition of the pieces. (5)

One of the stated reasons the items are being loaned and not fully returned to their rightful owners is UK law, namely the British Museum Act of 1963 and the National Heritage Act of 1983. (6) Moreover, the UK even goes as far as to suggest that the objects were acquired legally and that institutions like the British Museum have long preserved them in an environment where they can be seen and studied by people from around the world. Further, they imply that they would not be properly managed back in their places of origin. (7)

Some have cited the decision of the then Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari to give received Benin Bronzes personally to the Oba (monarch) of Benin, rather than a public institution as evidence of this. This particular case has given some indication of the complexities of this issue with one reparations activist calling Buhari’s move “morally unjust and illegitimate,” adding: “Some of these bronzes now being returned are ‘blood bronzes’, paid for with our lives… the Bronzes should not be consigned to the personal property of one individual, but be held for the descendants of slaves “trafficked into the diaspora, and their progeny,” which could be interpreted by some as an argument for keeping the Bronzes in the UK. (8)

Yet, clearly the British Museum is struggling to manage its total collection of over eight million objects, just half of which have been added to it’s main database. Last year it was revealved that as many as 2,000 items were “missing, stolen or damaged”, with reports of some being sold on eBay. Warnings in 2021 about the suspected thefts of objects were ostensibly ignored. (9)

The return of looted artefacts is being increasingly framed in the context of the global reparations movement, with the recent addition of the ‘Black Lives Matter’ protests and as such these campaigns have driven some European institutions and even governments to declare that they will repatriate these ill-gotten gains. This includes the governments of France, Germany, institutions like the Church of England, Oxford and Cambridge Universities, the University of Aberdeen, the Fowler Museum in Los Angeles, the National Museum of Ireland, Berlin’s Ethnologisches Museum, the Kelvingrove Gallery, Glasgow and the Horniman Museum, London. (10)

Nevertheless, the UK government is standing firm, essentially enshrining massive theft in law and signalling no willingness to deviate from this state of affairs. There is a deep some irony in this (and other) government so tenaciously holding on the possessions of a people it has historically rendered less than human and derided throughout history while continuing to transmit relentless emnity on their descendents. In contrast, the UK parliament did pass into law the Holocaust (Return of Cultural Objects) Act 2009 in the UK which enables owners of Nazi looted artworks now in public British museums and galleries not only to obtain compensation for the loss but to receive the looted object. (11)

But even a cursory examination of this issue will reveal although greed was a major motivating factor, these offences were also “a deliberate political act aimed at eliminating symbols of government and authority.” In addition, David Mwanzia Kyule, lecturer at the Department of History and Archaeology, University of Nairobi, asserted: “Historically, these artifacts, even the simplest like masks and carvings, carry immense importance. They are not just objects; they hold sacred narratives, embodying our shared history and cultural identity.” So these items are of immense spiritual significance and their loss helped to disconnect Afrikans from our cultural source at a time we were being trammelled into alien religions and value systems. (12) It could also be argued that if it was simply about the artistic merit of these items it is not clear why they can’t be replicated and the originals returned.

(1) George Ruddock (29/10/24) Ethiopia Advocate Ras Seymour Mclean Passes Away. https://archive.voice-online.co.uk/article/ethiopia-advocate-ras-seymour-mclean-passes-away; Yemisrach Benalfew (1999) Ethiopian Historical Antiques Being Stolen. https://www.twn.my/title/1955.htm

(2) Nosmot Gbadamosi (12/10/21) Stealing Africa: How Britain looted the continent’s art. https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2021/10/12/stealing-africa-how-britain-looted-the-continents-art

(3) Ibid.

(4) Danica Kirka (25/01/24) A pair of UK museums return gold and silver artifacts to Ghana under a long-term loan arrangement. https://apnews.com/article/britain-ghana-museums-gold-colonial-theft-royal-e5aa77f9c07ab8952e507dd01e983c76

(5) Kent Mensah (28/01/24) Ghana: UK returning looted gold artefacts to Asante king on loan. https://www.theafricareport.com/334763/ghana-uk-returning-looted-gold-artefacts-to-asante-king-on-loan/

(6) Gbadamosi. Op. cit.

(7) Ibid; Kirka. Op. cit.; Howard W. French (25/07/23) The Moral Flaw in the Case Against Returning African Art. https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/07/25/benin-bronzes-african-art-stolen-looted-germany-europe-repatriation-colonization-slavery/#:~:text=Sculptures%20known%20as%20the%20%E2%80%9CBenin,%2C%20on%20July%201%2C%202022

(8) Craig Simpson (13/07/23) Benin king to keep bronzes returned by UK. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/07/13/benin-bronzes-british-museum-returned-nigeria-oba/

(9) Sinai Fleary (24/08/23) Nigeria renews call for return of Benin Bronzes following British Museum thefts. https://www.voice-online.co.uk/news/uk-news/2023/08/24/nigeria-renews-call-for-return-of-benin-bronzes-following-british-museum-thefts/; Martha Gill (02/09/23) Being a victim of theft might help the British Museum reflect on returning its own swag. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/sep/02/british-museum-should-give-back-loot-benin-bronzes; David Batty and Mark Brown (27/08/23) Thefts expose British Museum’s ‘ridiculous’ stance on return of artefacts, says MP. https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2023/aug/27/thefts-expose-british-museums-ridiculous-stance-on-return-of-artefacts-says-mp

(10) Gbadamosi. Op. cit.; Kirka. Op. cit.; Simpson. op. cit

(11) Dr. Kwame Opoku (02/01/11) Reflections On The Abortive Queen-Mother Idia Mask Auction: Tactical Withdrawal Or Decision Of Principle?. https://www.modernghana.com/news/310582/reflections-on-the-abortive-queen-mother-idia-mask-auction.html https://www.parleypolicy.com/post/the-rules-based-international-order-explained

(12) Mensah. Op. cit; Andrew Wasike (26/01/24) Looted Asante treasures to return to Ghana after 150 years. https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/looted-asante-treasures-to-return-to-ghana-after-150-years/3119199

we ask the question

Afrika’s “Loot”: Why does Europe want it?

1) Should Ghana keep the items irrespective of the loan agreement?

2) What impact has losing such artefacts had on Afrika?

3) Does having items in European institutions make them more accesible to the world?

4) What does it say about the UK if it has laws to prevent returning looted goods?

Our Special Guests:

Bro. Ldr. Mbandaka: Resident guest who is Spiritual Leader of the Alkebu-Lan Revivalist Movement and an Afrikan-Centred Education Consultant. Bro. Ldr is a veteran activist of over 40 years standing, a featured columnist in The Whirlwind newspaper and author of Mosiah Daily Affirmations and Education: An African-Centred Approach To Excellence.

Dr. Kwame Osei: is a Ghanaian born Historian, writer, broadcaster and entrepreneur. who has been studying World history particularly Afrikan history for over 25 years and has been on study tours to Kemet, Australia and India. As a freelance writer for Modern Ghana.com Kwame has written over 100 articles in publications like Ghanaian Times, Daily Graphic, New African, Black Britain and The World Bank Group. Kwame’s business interests including real estate, land, financial services and farming and is an ardent and unapologetic Pan-Africanist