When the United Nations was established in 1945, Africa was largely absent. Only four African countries were present at the creation of the new world body; the rest remained under colonial rule. Nearly eighty years later, Africa’s presence at the UN is still defined more by symbolism than by real influence. Membership has often meant silence, compliance, and observation from the margins rather than a genuine seat at the table.
Former President John Dramani Mahama of Ghana, addressing the UN General Assembly this September, broke from that tradition. His remarks were direct and uncompromising: the future is African, and unless the UN adapts to that reality, it is the UN—not Africa—that risks irrelevance.
On Gaza, Mr. Mahama refused to cloak his words in diplomatic caution. For nearly two years, world leaders have spoken in euphemisms while civilians suffer. Mahama called it plainly: collective punishment, erasure, genocide. He challenged the inconsistency of Western nations that condemn human rights violations in one breath while financing them in another. Africa, he reminded the Assembly, has a history of taking principled stands. Ghana stood with South Africa during apartheid when Nelson Mandela was denounced as a terrorist. Today, Mahama insisted, Africa must stand with Palestine.
The former president also invoked the long relationship between Africa and Cuba. He called for an end to the decades-long blockade, describing it as unjust and punitive. His point was historical as much as moral: Cuban soldiers fought and died in Angola, Mozambique, and South Africa during struggles against colonialism and apartheid. For Africa now to turn its back on Cuba, he argued, would be a betrayal of solidarity and sacrifice.
Mahama’s vision of a “Reset Agenda” was not confined to domestic policy. He presented Ghana’s recent economic progress—once dismissed as a “basket case,” now boasting one of the world’s strongest-performing currencies—as evidence that African nations can recalibrate their futures. By extension, he argued, global institutions must also be recalibrated. At the UN Security Council, five permanent members retain veto power, a structure designed in 1945 but unchanged despite profound shifts in global demographics and influence. To Mahama, this imbalance represents not sovereign equality but a 21st-century echo of colonialism.
The call for reparations added further weight to his intervention. Twelve million Africans were enslaved to build European wealth, yet reparations were historically directed to slave owners rather than the enslaved. Looted African artefacts remain on display in Western museums, celebrated as cultural treasures but divorced from the violence that took them. If this constitutes a “rules-based order,” Mahama suggested, then the rules are deeply flawed.
The larger question he posed is whether Africa needs the UN more than the UN needs Africa. With its resources, youthful population, and demographic momentum, Africa represents the future. The West is ageing; Africa is rising. If permanent representation continues to be denied, if financial systems remain unreformed, if historical injustices remain unaddressed, then Africa must consider whether its energy is better spent building alternative platforms of influence.
Mahama’s speech was more than diplomatic rhetoric. It was a warning: Africa will not remain silent on Gaza, on Cuba, or on the theft of its past. Another global order is possible. If the UN fails to adapt, Africa may yet choose to build that order without it.
Source: Angel No Lie
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