What were the highlights, key points, priorities and notable excerpts and quotes in John Dramani Mahama's speech at the UN General Assembly?

Here are the highlights and key excerpts from President John Dramani Mahama's address to the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Highlights

• Reparatory justice, the opening salvo. John Mahama opened by making good on a pledge he had made from the same podium a year earlier. On the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, Ghana had tabled Resolution A/RES/80/250, and 123 nations voted to affirm that the transatlantic slave trade and chattel enslavement were the gravest crimes against humanity. He argued that this was not symbolic: the structural legacies of those crimes still shape today's financial architecture, credit ratings, and trade regimes. "True healing requires truth; truth requires acknowledgement; and acknowledgement must lead to meaningful repair," he told the Assembly. He named the Netherlands, Germany, and France as countries that had made positive moves to join the reparatory justice conversation.

• A permanent African seat on the Security Council, with veto power. Mahama said Africa must be given permanent representation on the UN Security Council, including the rights, responsibilities, and veto powers attached to such membership, arguing that Africa, with about 1.5 billion people and the largest regional voting bloc at the UN, could no longer remain without a permanent seat. His framing was blunt: "Security Council reform is not a favour to Africa; it is an imperative for the legitimacy, credibility, and survival of the United Nations."

• Gaza: no more diplomatic euphemisms. Mahama was direct where many leaders are careful. He called collective punishment, enforced starvation, and mass displacement flagrant violations of international law, named five-year-old Hind Rajab by name, and said more than 20,000 children had been killed. He reaffirmed Ghana's recognition of Palestine as a sovereign state and its support for a two-state solution, while also condemning terrorism by Hamas as the trigger for the conflict. His standard: "Our moral standards cannot be selective."

• Climate finance must come as grants, not loans. Mahama described Africa contributing less than 4 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions while bearing some of the heaviest costs. He cited a devastating flood that hit Ghana and coastal West Africa, dropping 160 millimetres of rain on seven coastal regions in 24 hours, killing 39 people. He demanded that mitigation support come as non-debt-creating grants, not instruments that further indebt fragile economies.

• Africa will process its own minerals. He was explicit that the continent will not replay colonial-era extraction. "Africa will not remain a passive arena for a new scramble for resources," he said, pledging that critical minerals would be processed at home to build local industries and create jobs. He pointed to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the agreement that removes most tariffs between African countries and whose Secretariat is based in Ghana's capital Accra, as the engine for that transformation.

• Ghana's AU Chairmanship. Mahama announced that Ghana would use its AU Chairmanship, which it assumes in January 2027, to champion continental integration, accelerate the AfCFTA, push for peace in conflict zones, and ensure that Africa speaks with "one resolute, undivided, and confident voice."

• Ghana's economic recovery. Mahama said Ghana had achieved a "dramatic turnaround" in its economy, pointing to reduced inflation, a stabilised currency, and lower public debt. He described a new Free Primary Health Care Programme, hailed by the World Health Organization as a benchmark for the Global South, and a fund called MahamaCare covering non-communicable diseases including renal failure, cancer, and diabetes.

Priorities

• A binding, structural reparatory justice process, including restitution of Africa's cultural heritage and dismantling of exploitative trade and credit regimes.
• Two permanent African seats on the UN Security Council, with veto rights.
• Long-term, concessional, grant-based climate finance for developing nations.
• An immediate ceasefire in Gaza, humanitarian access, and accountability for war crimes by all parties.
• Intra-African industrialization through the AfCFTA, with value addition of minerals at home.
• A global health architecture with regional vaccine manufacturing in the Global South.
• Solidarity with Sudan, the Sahel states, Cuba, and all nations facing sanctions or blockades that punish ordinary citizens.

In his own words

On belonging and the dark side of identity: "Belonging anchors us; it reminds us that we are part of a human story far larger than ourselves. It is a vital wellspring of dignity and pride. But belonging also has a dark side. When weaponised by political expediency, it transforms into nativism, chauvinism, xenophobia and the dangerous prejudices extended to those who are deemed different."

On the founding truth of the UN: "No race is superior. No nation is inferior. No child's life is worth less because of the language they speak, the faith they profess, the colour of their skin, or the land of their birth."

On international law: "The UN Charter must reign supreme over the cynical doctrine that 'might makes right.' The veto power must never serve as a license for impunity."

On Africa and resources: "Africa does not seek charity. Africa seeks equal partnership anchored in mutual respect."

On developing nations and debt: "Developing nations borrow at interest rates up to eight times higher than industrialised nations. African and Caribbean States nations struck by climate disasters are forced to take on crippling debt to rebuild from floods and droughts they did not cause."

On the human family: "We must see each other not as strategic rivals, economic targets, or demographic threats, but as human beings who belong. The refugee fleeing violence belongs. The migrant seeking opportunity belongs. The child in Gaza, Sudan, or Ukraine belongs."

His closing call, expanding Kwame Nkrumah: "The freedom of any nation is insecure unless it is linked to the freedom of all humanity. Our national prosperity is fragile unless it is shared. Our global peace is unviable unless it is anchored in justice."

Watch and read the full speech

Clips from his address, from JoyNews:

Mahama at the UN: "I thank every nation that voted for justice"

Mahama at the UN: "Every human being belongs to the human family, no race is superior"

President Mahama was the third speaker on Day 3 of the general debate. The whole Day 3 session:

Watch Day 3 of the UNGA 81 general debate on YouTube

Watch the session on UN Web TV. The UN posts each country's statement on the general debate website.