Ghana in Focus Special: Why President Mahama's UN assembly speech was in vain

President John Dramani Mahama of Ghana recently delivered a speech at the United Nations General Assembly that touched on two critical issues: how the global economy is rigged against Africa, and why the United Nations needs reform to include permanent African representation on the Security Council. While these points resonate with many Africans, they ultimately highlight deeper problems that require more radical solutions than simply pointing out systemic inequalities. The speech, well-intentioned as it may be, fails to address the fundamental reality that these international systems were never designed for African emancipation in the first place.

The global economic system that Mahama criticized has its roots in enslavement, colonialism, and neo-colonialism – precisely what Ghana's first president Kwame Nkrumah warned about decades ago. Institutions like the IMF and World Bank, despite their development rhetoric, often implement policies that keep African nations in subordinate economic positions. This isn't accidental but structural. The startling statistic that Africa possesses 60-70% of the world's mineral resources yet accounts for only 2% of global trade should serve as a glaring red flag. This disparity reveals that the current economic order is functioning exactly as designed – to extract wealth from Africa rather than to develop it.

Rather than lamenting this rigged system, African leaders should focus on solutions within their control. The African Continental Free Trade Area represents a positive step, creating the world's largest economic partnership, bigger than both the EU and NAFTA. What Ghana and other African nations need is to dramatically increase intra-African trade rather than continuing to prioritize economic relationships with the EU, America, China, and India. When goods, services, and means of production remain within Africa and move throughout the continent, they create opportunities, generate wealth, and provide jobs for Africa's burgeoning youth population. This approach doesn't require permission from global powers – it requires political will from African leadership.

Similarly, we question whether seeking inclusion in the UN Security Council addresses the real issues when conflicts in Sudan and Congo receive fraction of the international attention given to Ukraine or Gaza.

Perhaps most importantly, we examine how the African Union has lost its way since the death of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Once financially independent, the AU now relies on funding from the very powers that have historically exploited the continent. What Africa needs is not a seat at someone else's table but to build its own table – a reset of the African Union that makes it truly representative.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Ghana in Focus
• 3:35 Why Mohammed's UN Speech Was Futile
• 6:43 World Economy Rigged Against Africa
• 9:10 Need for Intra-African Trade Solutions
• 12:16 UN Reform and Africa's Seat Debate
• 15:30 Call for African Union Reset

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:04

Welcome to this week's edition of Ghana in Focus with myself Kwame, Ghanaian broadcaster, writer, journalist, podcaster, and entrepreneur. And in this week's edition of Ghanaian Focus, we've got two uh special well, we've got two features for you. The first one of which is Mohammed's speech at the recent United Nations General Assembly, talking about uh how the economy is good against is skilled against Africa and also how the United Nations need to form and that Africa can have a permanent seat at the council. So I want to explain why that speech was useless for Mohammed with all due respect. And uh, we'll also have another one coming up for you in later on. So before we get into the podcast, uh just to make your way if you like what you hear, uh please subscribe to Ghana African Focus uh on YouTube. So look out for Ghana African Focus on YouTube, hit the notification button bell, meaning that every time we upload a new podcast, uh YouTube will notify you of that. 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All right, so let's get into the podcast. Mohammed speech at the United Nations General Assembly. Why, in my opinion, it was futile. All right, so uh President John Jamani Muhammad of Ghana was one of a handful of African presidents who spoke at the recent United Nations General Assembly every September, running about this time of the year. World leaders gather at the United Nations to talk about uh issues around the world and how to deal with very specific issues. And so uh President Don Jamani Mohammed of Ghana uh spoke, I believe, on Wednesday or Thursday of last week, and uh he in his speech for me two things stand out. One, how the world economy is rigged against Africa, and secondly, how Africa needs to have a biggest say at the United Nations and why it needs to form. So FD was the first bit of it. Uh Muhammad said that uh you know the world economy is skewed or rigged against Africa. Now, this is something I've been saying for years, you know, and if you you know are a regular, listen to Ghana African Focus. Just this year, about a couple of months ago, I did a feature as to how the West deliberately stops Africa, and in that I featured a um presentation from Dr. or Professor Howard Nicholas of the University of Rotterdam, in which he said it was basically underdevelopment in Africa, how uh you know the whole development agenda is basically a con, and how Africa needs to be put in its place as a producer of raw materials by the Western powers. And so what Mohammed said, you know, aligned my point that I've been talking about for you know since this podcast evolved four years ago, about how you know the world economy, institutions like the IMF and World Bank are not necessarily for Africa for African development, but it's you know wanting to keep Africa down using you know very, very dubious and circumspect uh means. And like I said, Dr. Howard Nicholas's presentation about development in Africa basically proved uh that point. And so, you know, Mohammed should not cry foul of a system that was never designed for African emancipation. Yeah, this is why Kramin Krima set about to industrialize Ghana because he knew that really Ghana could not rely on uh outside agencies, and for that matter, Africa could not allow or rely rather on outside agencies to uh foster in its development agenda itself and also you know emancipate itself from imperialism. Yeah, so this is why in Krima's whole um agenda was to A uh industrialize Ghana and also B use as a model for other African countries to follow and also for Africa to unite as one single body. Yeah, so you know, rather I understand why Mohammed said that, but in truth, you know, nothing's gonna change. So, what Ghana, what African countries need to do is to come together economically, right? Which which they are trying to do in terms of the Africa free trade area, which is now the world's biggest uh economic um uh partnership, is bigger than the EU and is bigger than NAFTA, which is the North America free trade area, what Ghana and Africa got to do is trade with one another. Because if Africa is just two percent of global global global trade, right? That is obviously that is obvious telling you something not right there in terms of if Africa is home to between 60 to 60-70 percent, 60 to 16 to 70 percent of the world's mineral resources, but yet has got only 2% of world trade, showing that raise a red flag, showing that because of concern, shouldn't we be asking questions in Ghana, in Africa? And so for me, rather than complain about a system that's not gonna change, because that's the system being in place, you know, essentially since slavery or enslavement rather, uh, that system is not gonna change overnight. What Ghana can do is do what incredible trying to do into. So and and the ironic thing is, you know, Ghana does more business with the EU, America, China, India than does other African countries. So for me, if you know, if you are serious about wanting to uh balance the imbalance of trade being screened against Africa, what you've got to do is foster more intra-Africa trade, yeah. The more trade we do with one another, the benefit that will have on our individual countries, A, and B, it will benefit the entire content, yeah? Because rather than goods and services moving outside of Africa, goods and services and the methods of production stay in Africa, moving on the content, thus creating opportunity, versus creating wealth, and thus creating jobs for our team and youth. And so, you know, and Mohammed should not complain of the system, but him being president of Ghana can use his um position as president to internal, i.e., develop policies that will allow Ghana to be self-sufficient in every strata of human endeavor, be education, health, employment, agriculture, you know, food security, energy security, etc. etc. And B by having more close links with African countries, with fellow African countries, as opposed to North America, EU, India, China, Japan, what have you. Yeah, by fossil closive with Africa, yeah, we can begin to you know uh balance the skills, so to speak, so that rather than have it against us, the system against this, we can work uh you know, outside of the system, i.e. inter-African trade, training amongst ourselves, yeah, and that can create opportunities for African development, African growth. So that's that bit I want to say about you know Mohammed complaining about uh the world economy being skewed against Africa. Because, like I said, it was never designed, you know, how the world economy is structured today based on enslavement, colonialism, and neocolonialism, as the criminal warned us about, yeah, it was never meant, it was never designed to emancipate Africa. And so, as long as you know our political elite are aware, I'm not sure if they are aware, because a lot of them are respectfully puppets and stooges. If they're not aware, yeah, then this is what they've got to do to make Africa, you know, have more of a say on global economical affairs by you know having more trade amongst itself. Now, the second thing that I want to talk about in terms of Mohammed's speech is that he said that the United Nations needs reform and that Africa deserves you know to have a seat at the table, at the table of the United Nations, because obviously, you know, you've got the five permanent members of the United Nations who are US, um UK, France, China, and Russia. Yeah, so even India, you know, with all this economy and you know, big population, India does not have a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, but in terms of Africa now, again, like I mentioned, the United Nations was never designed for African emancipation, it was never designed to essentially talk about African problems. Do you see, unless unless it's in their favor, do you see them talk about Sudan? The war in Sudan, the same way they talk about Gaza? Yeah. Or Ukraine? They don't, because you know, Africa is of no one's concern, you know. The war in um, you know, Congo, do we talk about that in the United Nations? Has anyone passed a resolution in the United Nations, you know, condemning the war in Congo and the suffering and the pain that's given in the Congo?

unknown: 12:44

No.

SPEAKER_00: 12:45

Because it's not, it's not, it's not on the agenda. Yeah, and despite Africa having 54 different countries, yeah, you know, even though we uh we deserve to have a seat on the permanent council, truth of the matter is we're never gonna get a seat on the permanent council. And if we did have a seat on the permanent council, right, that that that seat will be manipulated by the other powers that be, who essentially fund our development. Yeah? So for me, again, rather than complaining about the United Nations, I mean, the best thing for African countries to do is to get out of the United Nations. Because, like I said, the United Nations serves no purpose as far as Africa is concerned. Yeah? And this is why it's important that we have to make the African Union a proper African content body because right now, the African Union has got nothing to do with African unity or African emancipation. Yeah. The days of Nkrumah and even Latin in Gaddafi, where the African Union was funded by African people, those days, and when it looked at African industry specifically, right, about how to uh get the content thinking on one uh with one voice on global affairs, they're just a gone. Because after Qaddafi's death in 2011, and Kadhafi's bankrolled, essentially, he banked using the oil wealth, African Union. But since his murder in 2011, right, and I might and I may want to talk about that soon, right? Since his death in 2011, the African Union now is not funded by the very same imperialist powers that has got its knee on Africa's head. So we need a reset in terms of the whole idea of the African Union, and we need a whole new paradigm in the way uh, you know, African Union is governed, African Union is managed, and the African Union uh deals with uh situations internally and externally. Because, like I said, the war in Sudan, that's a classic case of the African Union doing nothing. They do nothing about the war in Sudan or the war in Congo. Yeah, but the EU and NATO are doing something about Ukraine because it's on their doorstep, and they've got to do something about that because they threaten the security not just of Ukraine, but the entire European Union. So Congo and Sudan, it must be on our rage as Africans, yeah, because those two wars threaten the security, not just of the two countries, but of the continent generally. And so this is why we need a strong African Union to speak on behalf of the global African community. And so rather than you know, uh try to engage or assimilate into the United Nations that does not have interests at heart, the best thing to do is lead the United Nations, as far as I'm concerned, and uh, you know, the body that is there, the African Union, have a reset, make it more robust, make it more accountable, and make it more African-centered to deal specifically with African problems and African solutions. So that's my take on the key aspects of Mohammed's speech at the just-ended United Nations General Assembly. Uh, if you like what you hear, please share it to your friends, family, social media networks. Subscribe to Ghana, African Fix on YouTube, subscribe to Ghana, Afghan Fix on Spotify, and we'll see you in the next edition of Ghana in Focus.