Will Britain return Ghana’s stolen gold and artefacts?

The British empire conquered the powerful Ashanti Kingdom in 1874 after several wars in what is today Ghana. The palace of the then-Asantehene (meaning Asante king), Otumfuo Nana Kofi Karikari and the private homes of other royals were ransacked.

“The purpose of the war was to free some British captives for gold and for free trade at the coastal areas because the Asante people were making things difficult for the British at that time,” Osei-Bonsu Safo-Kantanka, a Ghanaian monarchical historian and teacher, tells The Africa Report.

Some of the items stolen were masks and busts made from pure gold, necklaces, bracelets of gold, coral ornaments, swords, caps mounted in solid gold, knives set in gold and silver, bags of gold dust and nuggets, sandals and stools set in gold, carved stools mounted in silver, calabashes worked in silver and in gold, among many other priceless items.

As a result of the political situation at that time people took advantage and took the items. I have seen some of these items on display at the British Museum

Historians have also pointed out that a lot of the regalia and other valuable items were stolen from the Ashanti kingdom between 1896 and 1900 when there was great disorder in Kumasi, the capital of the present-day Ashanti Region.

At that time, the British – under the command of Sir Francis Scott – had deposed Otumfuo Nana Prempeh of the Ashanti to take over their gold reserves. Prempeh was sent into exile in the Seychelles, and the political structure of the Ashanti people fell apart.

“It meant that security and systems had broken down, leaving the safety of these royal regalia and artworks in jeopardy,” Ivor Agyeman-Duah, the founder and director of Ghana-based Centre for Intellectual Renewal and technical advisor of the Ashanti king, tells The Africa Report.

“As a result of the political situation at that time people took advantage and took the items. I have seen some of these items on display at the British Museum.”

The reigning Asante king is hoping to receive the items that have been kept at the museum to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the end of the third Anglo-Asante war and his Silver Jubilee in 2024.

To loan or to return the items

However, the British Museum said in a BBC report that it is “exploring the possibility of lending items”, including regalia to the revered king. This comes with conditions, which include, but are not limited to, paying insurance to a selected British insurance firm for the looted artefacts, paying for the transportation and courier costs, crating and packing materials, and photographing the condition of the pieces, according to the museum’s website.

“That’s absolutely absurd,” Gifty Lawson of the Center for African History Preservation tells The Africa Report. “With such conditions, they are indirectly telling us that they own the objects, but that shouldn’t be the case.”

For his part, Safo-Kantanka argues that talks about return of the items and possible compensation “will continue to drag on” because the British “feel it’s a war booty, so we can’t have them on a silver platter”.

It is estimated that there are more than 200 Asante gold objects and other items taken by British troops during the war in the collection of the British Museum.

“The Asantehene has started well. We must all rally behind him in getting these objects returned to Ghana,” Vladimir Antwi-Danso, an international relations expert tells The Africa Report. “People pay and go to their museums to watch these things, and they pay money for it, and we are not getting anything.”

Other African countries calling

The museum also has thousands of valuable war spoils from other African countries. The originating countries have made requests for the return and restitution of their stolen cultural objects from state and private museums in Europe.

Ethiopia, for instance, wants the British Museum to return ceremonial crosses, weapons, jewellery, sacred altar tablets and other items taken from Maqdala in the north of the country during British military action in 1868.

Africa must ask for compensation for these artefacts that have generated a lot of funds for those who stole them from us.

Nigeria is also demanding the return of over 900 Benin Bronzes, which were seized by the British after capturing the state in 1897. In 2022, the museum said that it has in its possession 928 objects and 300 historic photographs that are associated with the Benin Kingdom, but remains hesitant to return them.

European scholars have argued that African countries and their museums do not have the mechanism to preserve the items, including old manuscripts.

“That’s a fallacy,” Safo-Kantanka, who is also a researcher in the area of history, religion, culture and tradition, tells The Africa Report. “They were being kept well before the British came to steal them.”

The spiritual element

Experts believe that the restitution of African valuable objects is about recognising centuries of devastation of the African continent, and taking a step towards social, historical and cultural repair for Africans themselves. However, Agyeman-Duah says there is a spiritual aspect to it.

He said some of the objects stolen at the Asante king’s palace had a spiritual and historical role. They played a key part in royal succession and ancestral reverence, funerary rights, and healing practices.

“We’ve a good case and we’re negotiating with the British Museum. We are talking about the ceremonial function of the items taken and the spiritual nature of some of these elements. Some of these artworks or objects are spiritual creations for specific ceremonial purposes,” the museum economist and development specialist says.

The 22-member restitution committee set up by the Ghanaian government to look at the return of items taken from the Asante Palace which are now in collections around the world has not made any positive progress a year after its inauguration.

Nana Oforiatta Ayim, a member of the committee, said the negotiation process takes a lot of time.

“It’s exhausting,” she said at an Open Restitution Africa public event, adding that if everything goes according to plan, “it will bring about healing.”

To avoid the hassle, a school of thought is pushing an agenda for African countries to rather pursue reparation for the stolen items. Antwi-Danso remarks that it is not a bad option.

“Even if we bring them back and restore them to their positions, we need cash to be able to do all that,” he says.

“They couldn’t have stolen these things and kept them for over 200 years without paying any compensation. Africa must ask for compensation for these artefacts that have generated a lot of funds for those who stole them from us.”