Ghana has recently granted citizenship to at least 126 members of the diaspora who have been living in the country for years, according to the BBC. The decision is a part of the country's landmark 'Year of Return' celebrations which mark 400 years since the first African was sold at the beginning of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade.

Channel Africa reports that President Nana Akufo-Addospoke at a ceremony held this past Wednesday and said to the new Ghanaian citizens that, "You have the responsibility of preserving and promoting the image of a country whose reputation, among the comity of nations, is, today, high." He added that relying on other countries for the development of Ghana was a "mind-set that [he wishes them] to discard, a mind-set of dependency and living on handouts".

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Ghana's 'Year of Return' is a tourist and investment initiative designed to attract the African Diaspora as 2019 marks the 400th anniversary of the beginning of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade in Jamestown, Virginia. In September of last year, President Nana Akufo-Addo declared and formally launched the initiative at a ceremony in Washington D.C. saying that, "We know of the extraordinary achievements and contributions they [Africans in the diaspora] made to the lives of the Americans, and it is important that this symbolic year—400 years later—we commemorate their existence and their sacrifices."

The initiative is currently being spearheaded by The Ghana Tourism Authority, the Office of Diaspora Affairs as well as The Adinkra Group of the USA.