Discours du Président Ghanéen

"Madam president,
Secretary general,
Your excellencies,

"Ghana salutes the historical significance of your election to preside over this 73rd session of the general assembly as the first female Latin American, and congratulate you most heartily.

"Your election reinforces our common preoccupation that gender equality must be a quintessential feature of the global agenda.

"Madam president, thirteen days ago, we layed to rest in his home soil of Ghana, Kofi Annan, the seventh secretary general of the United Nations. The first from South Saharan Africa to occupy this exhorted position.

"On behalf of the people and government of Ghana, I wish to extend our heartfelt gratitude to the United Nations Secretariat led by the secretary general, his excellency Antonio Gutierez, and the whole world community for the outpouring of grief and condolences that we received on the passing of Kofi Annan. We were deeply touched that so many world leaders and people took the trouble to come to our cry to bid him farewell.

"Kofi Annan's past and profound belief in the United Nations and his certainty that a better organized and stronger United Nations would make the world a better place is an ideal that should not be allowed to die.

"Today, we continue to be faced with the stark reality, the resolution's norms and any number of votes into the security council in general assembly mean nothing without the political will to enforce them. We still need to come to terms with what the role of our organization should be. Should it just be a club of nation states that exist to lookout to their own interest ?

"One of his constitution by, we the peoples, as declared in the founding document. Does the theme we have chosen for this assembly have any relevance in real life, and do we want to make the United Nations relevant to all people ?

"Do we want an organization that ensures shared responsibilities for peaceful, equitable and sustainable societies or should it remain the place to pass resolutions that are ignored with impunity?

"Madam president, when some of the nations of the world gathered in San Francisco seventy three years ago, and signed the landmark document that created this organization, it was a very different world than what we have today.

"And I do not refer only to the difference in the numbers in the room on that occasion, nor the difference in the mode of travel that brought the leaders to that meeting, from the jet planes that have brought all of us here in New York this week, nor do I refer to the tweets by which we communicate now, than the elegant handwriting that they employed back in 1945.

"I refer to the theme that was drawn out for the general assembly, one that it would be comprehensible, to that group in San Francisco. It is a different world in which we currently live in, and we should accept this organization must change to suit contemporary needs.

"Madam president, ten years ago as the general assembly was starting it's proceedings, the world was plunged into a financial crisis. The first scene of that crisis were played out on the streets nor far from where we were gathered. But, the consequences were felt and are still being felt around the world, and in small countries like Ghana.

"Some say that upheaval lies at the heart of the change of politics and outlook around the world. Today as we speak, a trade war is being stirred between the two largest economies of the world. The consequences will affect those who will have no say, including small countries like Ghana. These events provide proof that somewhere needed, that ours is an inter-dependent world.

"We in Ghana and other parts of the African continent are determined to pull our country out of poverty and into prosperity.

"We do not think that a nation needs to remain poor or become poor for others to become prosperous. We believe that there is room and there are enough resources on this planet for all of us to be prosperous. But, it does mean that the rules and regulations we are facing to guide our dealings with each other have to be respected by all of us. From the environment to trading rules, we have to accept that there cannot be different set of rules for different countries.

"Thus far, the United Nations provide the best vehicle for all nations to address their aspirations and challenges. Ghana has always displayed her belief in the United Nations and sought to contribute to her share in making the organization a successful one.

"We have embraced the SDGs and integrated the 17 ambitious into our national vision and budget. We intend that Ghana in will, in July 2019, take her turn to present our voluntary national review during the ECOSOC high level political forum, and we will share our successes and challenges as well as opportunities for new and continuing partnerships.

"Madam president, it is important to reiterate that advocating for a word order in which all countries signed up to obey the rules, does not mean that we want uniformity. We take pride. We want to distinguish ourselves as Africans, and as Ghaneans.

"Fifty five percent of the work of the security council last year, had to do with Africa. Unfortunately, this invariably meant peacekeeping and poverty related issues. We no longer want to be the place that requires peacekeepers and poverty-fighting NGOs, no matter how noble their objectives.

"Our regional bodies like ECOAS and our continental body, the AU are making systematic efforts, despite significant handicaps to bring peace and stability to the entire continent, and sooner rather than later, they will succeed.

"We know, we must get our population educated, and trained, and we are setting about it. We must address our infrastructural deficit. But, traditional methods of tackling these problems, will not provide the answer. We're looking for new ways to resolve it.

"Ghana, like many countries in Africa, is forging relations with China, to make arrangements to help address part of our infrastructure deficit.

"This is not a uniquely African or Ghanean phenomenon. It is not being lost on us, that the developed rich and well established countries have been paying regular visits to China, and seeking to open new economic ties and improve upon existing ones. It is also not lost on us that a lot of anxieties being expressed about the possibility of a recolonization of the African continent by a new power.

"We should indeed learn from history. It was at the turn of the twentieth century that China's first railways were built by Western companies, financed by Western loans to a nearly bankrupt Chen dynasty. And it was under those circumstances, that a strategic port called Hong-Kong was leased for ninety-nine years, and the rest, as the saying goes, is history.

"Today, the former victim of Western railways imperialism, is lending billions to countries throughout Africa, Asia and Europe, to construct not only railroads, but also highways, ports, power plants and other infrastructure, and many businesses.

"The historical echos are certainly worrisome. But, yes surely, we must and can learn from history.

"We, in Ghana, must build roads, bridges, railways, ports and hospitals, and we must create jobs to keep our young people engaged. It is obvious to us that the development track we have known for many decades is not working. We are trying a different one. And we would appreciate the support and good will of the world. Especially, in helping to stem the huge flow of illicit funds from the continent.

"It is in everybody's interest that we who are counted amongst the poor of the world, make a rapid transformation from poverty to prosperity. We are determined in Ghana, and increasingly in more and more parts of Africa, to chart our own path to prosperity, and pay our own way in the world.

"We are no longer interested in being a burden on others. We will shoulder our own responsibility, and build societies and nations that will be attractive to our youths. We have the necessary sense of enterprise, creativity, innovation and hard work to engineer this transition.

"Hence, our vision of a Ghana beyond aid. Indeed, of an Africa beyond aid.

"Madam president, it is equally important the United Nations is reformed, to be able to preside it with this changed and changing world to which we all aspire.

"The powerful nations must be willing to adapt to these changes to make our world a better place. After all, we all inhabit the same planet, and we all owe the same duty of care to ensure its survival."

The African common position on UN reform as expressed in the Esorini consensus, remains the most comprehensive proposal for reform in the United Nations, particularly in the security council.

It is time, the global community endorses it to create a modern United Nations, fit for purpose in our time.

May God bless the United Nations and us all.

Thank you for your attention.

Nana Akufo-Addo, president of Ghana.