What did John Dramani Mahama speak about at the UN General Assembly?

Highlights

• International law over raw power. John Mahama called for renewed respect for international law, insisting that the UN Charter must take precedence over what he described as the cynical doctrine that "might makes right," warning the world was witnessing a dangerous drift toward unilateralism, lawlessness, and the erosion of multilateral norms.

• Reparatory justice. Ghana had tabled Resolution A/RES/80/250 on the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery, and 123 nations voted to affirm that the transatlantic slave trade and chattel enslavement were the gravest crimes against humanity. Mahama argued that the resolution was not a mere gesture, because the structural legacies of those historic crimes continue to fuel systemic racism, economic marginalization, and a global financial architecture weighted against Africa and people of African descent.

• Gaza and Palestine. He said the credibility of the international system was particularly being tested by the ongoing conflict involving Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, and the occupied territories. MyJoyOnline reported he condemned the carnage in Gaza and backed a two-state solution.

• UN Security Council reform. MyJoyOnline reported Mahama demanded a permanent UN Security Council seat for Africa. He argued that the veto power must never serve as a licence for impunity, and that sovereign equality cannot be a privilege reserved only for nations aligned with global superpowers.

• Ghana's domestic reset. He highlighted Ghana's newly launched three-tier healthcare programme, saying it would ensure every Ghanaian could access essential primary healthcare services at the community level at no cost, as part of his administration's broader social protection agenda and commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals.

• Africa's raw materials. MyJoyOnline reported that Mahama declared Africa will no longer export raw minerals without value addition, a direct challenge to the extractive model that has shaped the continent's trade relationships for generations.

• Climate finance. MyJoyOnline reported he demanded that climate finance must come as grants, not loans, drawing on Ghana's experience of deadly floods as evidence of the climate burden already falling on African nations.

In his own words

On the UN's founding purpose:

"The United Nations must learn from the lessons of the League of Nations. The UN Charter must reign supreme over the cynical doctrine that 'might makes right.' The veto power must never serve as a licence for impunity. Sovereign equality cannot be a privilege reserved only for nations aligned with global superpowers."

On the state of the world today:

"You assume this solemn stewardship at a time of intense geopolitical fragmentation, deepening inequality, and eroded trust in our multilateral system."

On Ghana's founding spirit:

"Ghana's national anthem contains a profound petition. It asks God to make us 'bold to defend forever the cause of freedom and of right.'"

Worth knowing

Mahama's address was the 25th General Debate address by a Ghanaian president, according to Ghana's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The country's first president, Kwame Nkrumah, delivered the first such address in 1960. So Mahama was speaking inside a tradition that stretches back to Ghana's founding moment in global diplomacy.

The reparatory justice push is backed by a concrete institutional structure. Ghana established three mechanisms to carry the agenda forward: a High-Level Advisory Council on Reparatory Justice, a Global Experts Panel on the Restitution of Cultural Heritage, and a Global Legal Panel on Reparatory Justice.

Read the full speech

Full text of President Mahama's address on 3News

Full text on Graphic Online