Archbishop of Canterbury reaffirms commitment to £100m fund for communities affected by slavery

During her first visit to Ghana as Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally expressed "lament" over the Church of England's involvement in the transatlantic slave trade. She also reaffirmed the commitment to maintain the £100 million fund established to support communities affected by the legacy of slavery.

Speaking at Cape Coast Castle, a 17th-century fort held by the British from 1664, where thousands of Africans were held before being shipped to the Americas, Mullally said: "To be here and witness the terrible conditions in which thousands of people were held, it is hard not to feel the weight of the great evil that drove the slave trade." She toured the old dungeons and prayed at the Anglican chapel built above them. She also visited the "Door of No Return," where enslaved people were loaded onto ships for the Atlantic crossing.

Mullally, the 106th archbishop of the 492-year-old church and the first woman to hold the role, is on a 10-day visit covering Ghana and Cameroon. The trip came at the invitation of Archbishop Cyril Kobina Ben-Smith, head of the Anglican Province of West Africa.

She arrived in Accra on Sunday, visited four local parishes, and preached at a Eucharist service at St. Joseph the Worker church in the Kaneshie area, which local reports say was led by female clergy. She also met Ghana's President John Mahama alongside her husband, Eamonn Mullally. In addition, she laid the foundation stone for a dormitory at the local church's cultural resort project, intended to host pilgrims from the diaspora taking part in Ghana's "Year of Return" program. She also attended a service with over 1,000 nurses in Mampong and inaugurated a new clinic named after her.

The £100 million fund was established by the Church of England three years ago after Mullally's predecessor, Justin Welby, formally apologized for the church's role in investing in the slave trade. The fund promised "an investment, research, and engagement program" to support affected communities. However, it has drawn mixed reactions. An independent monitoring group said the amount was insufficient to address generational harm and called for it to be increased to £1 billion. Meanwhile, a committee of Conservative MPs suggested using the money to pay clergy salaries.

During this visit, Mullally said: "Part of the Christian faith in repentance is action. So, we are taking actions to support communities that feel the legacy of the slave trade." She emphasized that the Church of England was implicated in the slave trade and needed to take concrete action.

In Ghana, the mood toward her visit was largely upbeat. During a visit to the palace of the Asantehene, the traditional ruler of the Asante people in Kumasi, she wore a specially tailored robe lined with kente cloth, exciting the chiefs at the palace. However, some remain dissatisfied. Kenneth Mordzro, an accountant in Accra, argued the Church could do more: "They should return the gold and artifacts they stole from our ancestors during colonial times," he said, referring to war trophies taken by the British government during the 19th-century Anglo-Asante wars.

Ghana is leading a global campaign for reparative justice. Last month, it hosted a major conference with heads of state from over 80 countries. The Archbishop of Canterbury's visit comes against this backdrop, underscoring the Church of England's commitment to confronting the past and seeking solutions to the legacies of slavery.