President Mahama Calls for UN “Reset Agenda” at 80th General Assembly

Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama has delivered address at the 80th United Nations General Assembly 2025, calling for a fundamental transformation of the international organization through what he termed a “reset agenda” to address the dramatically changed global landscape since the UN’s founding 80 years ago.

Speaking to the assembled delegates, President Mahama painted a vivid picture of how drastically the world has evolved since 1945. “Since the founding of the United Nations in 1945, the sun had not yet set on the largest empire in history. The most common mode of international travel was by sea. The personal computer had not been invented, let alone made portable,” he noted.

Contrasting that era with today’s reality, Mahama observed: “Fast track 80 years on, in today’s world, hundreds of thousands of commercial flights take off and land everyday. Libraries have been digitized so that volumes of literature can exist on a small device, small enough to fit inside your pocket. We live in a world of cryptocurrency, artificial intelligence, social media, the internet and its dark, hidden dungeon of the dark web, all of which carry a potential threat to global peace and security.”

Drawing from his personal experience returning to Ghana’s presidency after an eight-year absence, Mahama emphasized the pace of global change. “My first day in office after my return, felt as though I had just awakened from a Rip Van Winkle style sleep. Now, that was only after eight years. Imagine then what it will be like after 80 years,” he said.

The president argued that the UN’s founding charter has become outdated, particularly regarding representation. “The UN founding charter is outdated when it comes to representation in this August assembly, the most powerful post World War Two nations are still being rewarded with an almost totalitarian guardianship over the rest of the world,” Mahama declared.

Central to Mahama’s reform proposal was Africa’s demand for permanent representation on the UN Security Council. “If this were true, and was the case, a continent as large as Africa, with its numerous UN member states, would have at least one permanent seat on the Security Council,” he stated, referencing the UN Charter’s principle of “sovereign equality of all its members.”

The president also called for limitations on veto power, arguing: “We believe that veto power should not be restricted to only five nations, nor should it be absolute. There must be a mechanism in this house for the General Assembly to challenge a veto. No single nation should be able to exercise an absolute veto to serve its own interest in a dispute.”