President John Dramani Mahama delivered a speech at the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, September 25, 2025.

In his speech, he raised several concerns about pertinent global issues, which he urged the Assembly to address.

UN General Assembly: 'The future of the world is Africa' - Mahama declares

He touched on the ongoing conflict in Gaza which has claimed several lives, the devastating effects of transatlantic slave trade, among other matters.

In this article, GhanaWeb explore three key points President Mahama raised in his address.

Africa’s inclusion on UN security council

President Mahama made a passionate appeal to the United Nations body for a permanent representation of Africa on the UN's Security Council.

According to him, the current UN structure does not reflect recent global trends.

He added that the UN’s founding charter needs a new identity, stating that the current one is outdated when it comes to representation.

"30 years later, we African leaders are still making the same simple request for a permanent seat on the Security Council with the power of a veto. So, today, Madam President, I stand here in this exact spot and ask the world, if not now, then when? We demand not only a reform of the Security Council, but also a reset of the global financial architecture, which is currently rigged against Africa," he said.

“There must be a mechanism for the General Assembly to challenge a veto. No single nation should be able to exercise an absolute veto to serve its own interests in a conflict,” he added.

An end to the Gaza conflict

Mahama also condemned the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, calling for an immediate end to the violence and what he described as the “collective punishment” of innocent Palestinian civilians.

He dismissed views that a two-state solution would benefit Hamas; instead, he emphasised that peace must prioritise the suffering of ordinary Palestinians.

“Since then, and I say contrary to the claims of some, a two-state solution would not be a reward for Hamas. It would rather be a retreat for the hundreds of thousands of innocent women, children, and people who are facing collective punishment and forced starvation for no reason other than the fact that they are Palestinians,” President Mahama said.

He also criticised world leaders for what he believes is their reluctance to speak plainly about the atrocities unfolding in Gaza, accusing them of using carefully selected language to avoid addressing the reality.

“For nearly two years, and for the fear of reprisals, we here in this General Assembly have been playing hide and seek with language to find the right words to help us avoid or excuse what we all know is taking place in Gaza.

“But here’s the thing; it doesn’t matter what you call it. If it looks like a duck, it swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, well, then it must be a duck. The crimes in Gaza must stop,” he stated.

“The crimes in Gaza must stop. But, Madam President, I also want to draw particular attention to the conflict in Sudan, which this body has described as the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. Twelve million people have had to flee their homes,” he added.

Transatlantic slave trade

Mahama described the transatlantic slave trade as “the greatest crime against humanity” and has called on the United Nations and its leaders to formally recognise it as such.

On the back of that, President Mahama announced Ghana’s plans to champion calls for a motion recognising the transatlantic slave trade as a crime against humanity.

“Madame President, the slave trade must be recognised as the greatest crime against humanity. As the African champion on reparations, Ghana intends to introduce a motion in this august body to that effect,” he said.

According to him, the slave trade took away the freedom of millions of people who were forced to leave their countries and made to create wealth for others in the Western world.

President Mahama, on that note, called for reparations to be made to address the devastating effects of the slave trade on Africans and the continent, including the depletion of its natural resources.

“More than 12.5 million Africans were forcibly taken against their will and transported to create wealth for the powerful Western nations. We must demand reparations for the enslavement of our people and the colonization of our land that resulted in the theft of our natural resources as well as the looting of artifacts and other items of cultural heritage that have yet to be returned in total,” he continued.

Mahama further criticised the historical injustice of slave-owning families being compensated by their governments, while formerly enslaved people and their descendants received nothing.

UNGA 80: ‘We are tired of exploitation of Africa’s resources’ – Mahama tells UN

“We recognise the value of our land and the value of our lives, as did our colonizers as well as the governments that happily paid reparations to former slave owners as compensation for the loss of their property,” he stated.

Meanwhile, these statements on global issues have earned the President plaudits from several prominent figures in Ghana and beyond, commending him for standing up and speaking truth to power.

MAG/VPO

Watch more videos from the NPP’s recent demonstration directed at President Mahama