President Mahama calls for fundamental rethink of global development cooperation

President John Dramani Mahama has called for a fundamental rethink of global development cooperation, insisting that countries cannot claim genuine ownership of their development programmes without having meaningful control over the resources and decisions that shape them.

He, however, cautioned that greater control must go hand in hand with strong domestic accountability.

President Mahama made the remarks at the “Full Circle: Making Global Development Work Again” side event of the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York, where he outlined the next phase of the Accra Reset agenda.

According to the President, the Global South has for decades been encouraged to take ownership of development outcomes while critical decisions over financing, health systems and development priorities often remain outside the countries concerned.

He said the situation creates a contradiction in which countries are expected to take responsibility for outcomes without necessarily having control over the systems and resources required to deliver them.

“There can be no ownership without control,” President Mahama said.

Drawing on Ghana’s own experience, he said the country’s Resetting Ghana Agenda was focused on strengthening fiscal management, governance, industrial capacity and domestic production.

He said the same principles should apply to countries seeking greater influence over their development priorities.

President Mahama, however, stressed that transferring greater authority from international institutions to national governments would not automatically create genuine sovereignty.

He argued that governments must be prepared to account fully to their citizens for how resources and authority are used.

“If we demand control, we must end it through uncompromising domestic accountability,” he said.

The President cited efforts by his administration to tighten fiscal controls, combat corruption and improve accountability for public funds as part of Ghana’s domestic reset.

He said the principle should form the basis of a new global bargain in which responsibility is matched by authority, authority is backed by productive capacity, and development partners are held accountable for their commitments.

President Mahama said the Accra Reset was established a year ago to address what he described as three interconnected challenges facing the Global South: geostrategic marginalisation, geopolitical vulnerability and donor dependence.

He said the initiative seeks to strengthen countries’ political authority, productive capacity and financial resilience rather than relying primarily on appeals for external assistance.

At the New York event, President Mahama also launched the report “A Sovereign Future for Health,” prepared by a high-level panel on reform of the global health architecture and governance.

The report contains 10 recommendations aimed at strengthening health sovereignty and improving the ability of countries to shape and finance their own health systems.

President Mahama said Ghana would now work with governments, global health institutions, development finance institutions, philanthropies and private-sector organisations to translate the recommendations into practical country-level programmes.

He said the initiative would focus on building networks linking research, regulatory oversight, local manufacturing and reliable distribution.

The President stressed that the Accra Reset was not a call for isolation, describing its objective instead as “pragmatic interdependence” based on equal partnerships.

“Stronger, self-reliant southern partners are not a threat to the global North,” he said.

As Ghana prepares to assume the chairmanship of the African Union in January 2027, President Mahama said the country would take the Accra Reset agenda into wider African policy discussions.

He also said Ghana would work with the Non-Aligned Movement and the G77 Plus to advance reforms aimed at creating a more equitable global development system.

Concluding his address, President Mahama urged global leaders to move beyond declarations and turn the principles of the Accra Reset into measurable action.

“We’ve come full circle, but let us not go around in circles. Let this new global bargain begin today,” he said.