President John Mahama has renewed Ghana’s advocacy for the United Nations reform to grant Africa permanent representation on the UN Security Council. 

He reiterated that it was a matter of global justice to rectify the continent’s historical exclusion from the Council’s decision-making process. 

The President made the call in his presentation delivered at the Chatham House in London, during which he shared Ghana’s perspective on “Navigating a Changing Global Order: Ghana’s Strategic Priorities”. 

He said Ghana believed that the institutions of global governance must evolve to reflect comprehensive political realities rather than the power structures of 1945.  

The President said the international system could not sustainably preserve its legitimacy, while significant portions of humanity remained structurally underrepresented in global decision-making. 

He said Africa, with 54 member states at the United Nations and a population projected to constitute nearly one quarter of humanity by 2050, continues to be excluded from permanent representation on the United Nations Security Council.  

“This is not nearly a procedural anomaly; it is a historical injustice. And a structural imbalance that undermines the credibility of the multilateral system itself.” 

President Mahama said Ghana continued to support comprehensive reform of the United Nations system, including equitable representation for Africa on the Security Council.  

He said the post-1945 international order, despite its imperfections and inequalities, established important norms and institutions that helped provide relative global stability. 

He noted that the Charter of the United Nations advanced principles intended to regulate relations among states, sovereign equality, territorial integrity, peaceful settlement of disputes, non-interference, and the collective pursuit of peace and development.  

He said these principles laid the normative foundations upon which many formerly colonised nations, including Ghana, secured their independence and asserted their sovereignty. 

“Today, however, many of these norms are on the street. We increasingly witness a selective application of international law, the erosion of multilateral consensus, and the growing tendency for strategic competition to take precedence over collective responsibility,” the President said. 

He noted that conflict across regions continued to test the credibility of the international system, exposing the fragility of the institutions designed to uphold peace and stability, while climate financing commitments remained unmet, and development assistance contracting across many regions. 

President Mahama said the world was becoming increasingly technologically interconnected and yet politically fragmented.  

He said for countries in the Global South, the central question was no longer whether the international order was changing. 

“The question is how to navigate this transition with resilience, strategic clarity, and sovereign confidence.” 

The President said for Ghana, this movement demanded neither retreat nor passivity, and that it demanded purposeful engagement. 

He said Ghana’s response to this changing global environment was anchored in the four broad strategic priorities. 

These include reforming global governance, leading African integration, building balanced and mutually beneficial partnerships and strengthening sovereign agency over a national development trajectory.