An unprecedented continental festival to reclaim history, resist injustice and repair Africa’s future:
Society:
The world currently faces diverse and complex issues with most of them presenting unprecedented challenges and problems which are in turn turning everyday life into a space of uncertainty and also a source of physical, emotional and mental/psychological pains. Given this dire reality, people are now engaged in everyday endeavors to try to understand and possibly unravel the emerging realities.
It is in the light of this that hundreds of people, including artists, musicians, policymakers, philanthropists, activists and cultural educators, are expected to meet in Nairobi on October 22nd and 23rd for the groundbreaking reparations festival.
It was announced on October 2nd in Nairobi that the WAKATI WETU: It’s Our Time – To Resist, Repair and Reclaim will take place at the Entim Sidai wellness sanctuary. The sanctuary is located long Rura Drive off Tree Lane, in Karen, Nairobi, Kenya on 20 acres of indigenous forest, offering a tranquil and picturesque setting for its wellness and spa services. During the two days, the festival participants will discuss and strategize on a carefully selected list of issues ranging from climate justice to economic justice and from historical injustices to contemporary legacies of the former slave trade and colonialism.
The Wakati Wetu festival is the first of its kind in Africa. It coincides with the African Union’s (AU) theme of the year, which calls for justice for Africans and people of African descent through reparations. The festival seeks to draw significant public attention to the issue of reparations. During the two-day activity series, the organizers have curated a series of sessions aimed at unpacking the limited public knowledge and interest in reparations in Africa, as well as exploring what civil society can do to change this trajectory.
Five organizations from across Africa and the Diaspora have joined forces to organize this groundbreaking event. Dr Liliane Umubyeyi, a Co-Founder of the African Futures Lab (AFaLab), is one of the conveners of the festival. Dr Umubyeyi explains that one of the principal reasons for organizing the festival this year is to elevate and socialize the discourse on reparatory justice on the continent. According to her, the festival intends to demonstrate how and why reparatory justice should be approached from an intersectional lens. “Climate change, debt crisis, forced migration, and deepening socio-economic inequalities are not disconnected phenomena; they are contemporary expressions of a global system of racial domination that remains structurally intact,” explains Dr Umubyeyi.
The African Union (AU) ECOSOCC, Head of Secretarial– William Carew, which is supporting the festival, underpins the sentiments. According to Carew, the “Wakati Wetu festival” is unprecedented for many reasons. Yet, it primarily provides a platform for a multi-sectoral interaction among policymakers, civil society groups, cultural actors, and ordinary people. “As the civil society organ of the AU, we collaborate to host such gatherings as a testament to the AU’s determination to involve ordinary Africans along our collective journey to create and sustain the Africa we want,” affirms Carew.
It is worth noting that, the Assembly of Heads of State of the African Union (AU) in 2025 February declared year 2025 the ‘Year of Justice for Africans and people of African descent,’ with a focus on reparations. The declaration was then followed by the AU’s decision to extend the theme of the year to ‘a Decade of Reparations,’ spanning from 2026 to 2036.
This milestone was the culmination of collective efforts and collaboration between civil society organizations, various organs of the AU and its Member States. Essentially, the ‘Wakati Wetu festival’ is being hosted in succession of calls by various African leaders for the reform of the current global systems and structures that continue to subjugate and dominate Africans and Afro-descendants globally. It is, therefore, a momentous opportunity for the reparatory justice movement to take the debates outside of conference rooms and into the public imagination and conversation arenas.
The festival organizers have indicated that this year’s event is a precursor to what they hope will be the beginning of such gatherings over the next decade. “This year’s event is just the opener. The campaign for justice, healing, and accountability will continue until it is resolved. We are therefore calling on all Africans and people of African descent who are interested in the total liberation and genuine development of Africa, to join us at Entim Sidai, as we chart a path for a continent that is free from racial and colonial entrapments,” added Dr Umubyeyi.
