Mike Henry, has called on those running for office to declare their positions on the issue of reparations.

Henry, the Opposition spokesman on transportation, made the call while addressing the just concluded Pan-African Summit at the University of the West Indies, Mona.

“I think every politician running for office in Jamaica now should be declaring his own position on reparations. I would hope that we would all make it a platform in our politics at this time,” Henry said.

Henry, in recent years, has relentlessly advocated reparations for which he tabled a motion, which is now being debated in Parliament.

“In the time that I have I intend to seek a political decision of any government of Jamaica …but none of us will ever be able to correct the mental slavery that Bob Marley spoke to, the mental anguish, the lack of recognition by our children and our ancestors and those beyond. I think our heroes and the blood they have shed is crying from the grave to ensure that that middle passage, that white Anglo-Saxon economic enslavement, must be demanded to be corrected in our lifetime,” he said.

As Henry articulated his demand for the compensation for slavery, more and more he connected with his African-centred audience comprising mainly Rastafarians as well as members of the Nation of Islam who applauded vigorously when he responded to a question on the participation of blacks in the enslavement of Africans.

“I am dealing with the facts that exist, and the aspect of slavery is so wrong in everything. And had so many other genesis. I am focusing on the slave traders with licence from a British queen to take people illegally from their home, bring them to Jamaica to economically produce for their benefit and when that failed, they paid the slave owners and not the slaves,” he said.

“The point is, that I can prove in a court of law. That can’t be denied, that’s an historical fact…I can’t value the life of anyone who has suffered in slavery. I can’t value the removing of our mind and thinking and everything that goes with it. What I can hold them to is what they did, which can be held up in a court of law which has been proven by other awards,” he added.

Henry said after the elections the Select Committee of Parliament will again be opened to the public in continuation of the exposure of the debate on reparations.