By Stanley Kwabla Arku
The Pan-African Progressive Front (PPF) has announced plans to host an international conference in Accra on October 15, 2025, to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the historic Fifth Pan-African Congress held in Manchester, United Kingdom, in 1945.
The conference, which will be held under the theme “From Historical Memory to Economic and Political Justice, Uniting Pan-African Progressive Forces,” is expected to draw participants from across Africa and the Caribbean.
Addressing journalists at a press launch in Accra, veteran journalist and member of the PPF organising committee, Mr. Kwesi Pratt Jnr, said the anniversary event seeks to rekindle the spirit of unity, self-determination, and anti-imperialist struggle that defined the 1945 Congress.
“This conference is not just an echo of the past,” Mr. Pratt said. “It is a positive regathering of Africans to assert their rights in a world shaped against their dreams for freedom from poverty and exploitation.”
He noted that the 80th anniversary is of special significance to Ghana, which hosted the All-African Peoples Conference in 1958 under the leadership of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the country’s first President and one of the key organisers of the 1945 Congress.
The PPF anticipates participation from more than 50 countries, including political parties, trade unions, youth and student movements, and women’s and peasant organisations.
Discussions at the conference will focus on five key themes:
• Consolidation of national independence;
• Frameworks for continental unity on the basis of anti-imperialism;
• Reparative justice;
• Continuation of the liberation struggle; and
• Development of new models of social and economic transformation.
Prominent African scholars and leaders have been invited to address the gathering. Among them are Comrade Irvin Jim, General Secretary of South Africa’s Metal Workers Union; Professor Akua Britwum, Chairperson of Ghana’s National Media Commission; Dr. Gamal Nasser Adam, former Vice President of the Islamic University College, Ghana; and Mr. Joe Ajaero, General Secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress.
Organisers also expressed gratitude to President John Dramani Mahama for accepting to deliver the keynote address. Mr. Mahama, who currently serves as Chairperson of the African Union Committee on Reparations, is expected to outline Africa’s renewed agenda for reparative and economic justice.
The PPF has further extended invitations to members of the Alliance of Sahel States, with President Ibrahim Traoré of Burkina Faso among those expected to participate.
“Africa cannot continue to be a spectator in the world theatre,” Mr. Pratt stressed. “We must redefine our economic and political realities to reflect the vision of the Pan-African founders — Modibo Keita, Sekou Touré, and Patrice Lumumba among others.”
The 1945 Manchester Congress is widely regarded as the turning point in Africa’s liberation struggle, inspiring movements that eventually led to independence across the continent.
Eighty years later, the conference in Accra seeks to bridge that historical legacy with Africa’s contemporary challenges, from economic dependency and resource exploitation to digital inequality and global realignment.