Twenty-five times, a Ghanaian president has spoken for the country in the General Assembly hall.

Ghana’s first address to the General Assembly, three years after independence and in the year seventeen African states joined the UN. Nkrumah demanded an end to colonial rule across the continent, called the United Nations the only organisation holding out hope for mankind, and turned to the Congo crisis, warning against “clientele-sovereignty”: independence granted in name while the former power kept control by other means.

“Africa wants her freedom; Africa must be free.”

Rawlings put women’s rights at the centre of the Universal Declaration’s fiftieth anniversary and blamed an inequitable economic order and crushing debt for Africa’s poverty. He accused the Security Council of selective, tardy responses in Rwanda, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, and noted Ghana was then the fourth-largest troop contributor to UN peacekeeping.

“Instead, we received sermons on the truths, realities and moralities of life and countries and peoples were victimized if they were shown not to have lived up to expectations.”

A year after the 11 September attacks, Kufuor spoke of a global village bound by shared humanity. He presented the African Union and NEPAD as Africa’s own plan for good governance, with a peer review that would allow no hiding behind sovereignty, and asked for investment, education, and help against HIV/AIDS.

“Africa has never wanted to be perceived as the ‘scar on the conscience of the world’.”

Speaking as Chairman of ECOWAS, Kufuor reported on peace efforts in Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, and Sierra Leone and asked for help with disarmament and small arms. He cited the Human Development Report’s warning that sub-Saharan Africa could miss the Millennium Goals by a century, and backed at least two permanent African seats on the Security Council.

“We in Ghana still believe in the United Nations as the global repository of humankind’s aspiration.”

At the UN’s sixtieth anniversary, Kufuor marked five years of the Millennium Declaration and described the UN as the world’s safety net for the weak. He offered Ghana’s support for reform built on a spirit of common humanity.

“This destiny of the UN and humankind is in our hands. We have the choice to save it, and the time to act is now.”

Kufuor said Ghana had submitted itself to the African Peer Review Mechanism as part of its commitment to democracy and sound economic management. He backed a closer UN–African Union partnership on peacekeeping, deeper Security Council reform, and paid tribute to the outgoing Secretary-General, Kofi Annan.

In Ghana’s fiftieth year of independence and as African Union chair, Kufuor proposed a full UN agency to study and prepare for climate change. He reported on the Accra AU summit, Darfur, and Somalia, and pointed to Africa’s rising growth.

“Africa is therefore more than ready for good business.”

In his final address, Kufuor described a world in flux and called aid uncoordinated and insufficient for the Millennium Goals. He cited Ghana’s debt relief of about $8 billion under the HIPC initiative as proof that good governance and development go together.

Amid the global financial crisis, Atta Mills warned that food, energy, and climate shocks threatened Africa’s gains. He called for rich countries to keep aid promises, for fairer trade, and for climate finance at Copenhagen, and described Ghana’s goal of 40 per cent women in decision-making.

Atta Mills honoured Ghanaian peacekeepers, backed an arms trade treaty, and marked the International Year of Youth with Ghana’s push to replace “schools under trees”. He promised peaceful elections the following year.

“Ghana’s democratic credentials stand tall, and we intend to keep it that way.”

Weeks after the death of President Atta Mills, Mahama hailed Ghana’s peaceful transition and a “new Africa” of growth and democracy. He pledged that Ghana would not be used to destabilise its neighbours and called for Security Council reform.

“Growth is taking the place of stagnation; tranquility is taking the place of turmoil; democratic governance, founded on the rule of law, is taking the place of dictatorship.”

Mahama remembered the poet Kofi Awoonor, killed in the Nairobi attack, and pointed to Ghana’s televised Supreme Court election case as proof of stronger institutions. He urged jobs for Africa’s young population through industry rather than raw exports.

“African women have always been the backbone of our societies.”

With Ebola spreading in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea, Mahama offered Accra as the base for the UN response. He warned that terrorists exploit youth unemployment, and described new laws protecting spouses’ property rights.

At the UN’s seventieth anniversary, Mahama noted that Ghana was not among the founders in 1945 and called for a more inclusive organisation. He spoke of keeping girls in school and of the gap between small and large nations, seen in the Pope’s tiny Fiat among SUVs.

Mahama warned of rising walls, hate speech, and xenophobia, and told of young Ghanaian entrepreneurs who crossed the desert after frozen-chicken dumping ruined their businesses. He urged a faster Continental Free Trade Area and asked that Africa be judged as a diverse continent.

Back in office, Mahama said Africa will be central to the world’s future, with a third of all young people living there by 2050. He asked the UN for its own “reset agenda”, a permanent African Council seat, a fairer financial architecture, and sovereignty over Africa’s resources.

“The future is African.”

Delivered on 24 September 2026, under the theme “Restoring Trust, Managing Transformation: A United Nations that Delivers for All”. It is Ghana’s 25th presidential address and Mahama’s seventh. A summary will follow once the UN publishes its record.

In his first address, Akufo-Addo said Africa had come of age and that Ghana wanted to grow beyond aid, citing the new free senior high school policy. He called for Security Council reform so that Africa is represented.

“We cannot continue to preach democracy and fairness around the world, we cannot insist on peace and justice around the world, when our global organisation is not seen by the majority of its members as having a structure that is just and fair.”

Paying tribute to Kofi Annan, Akufo-Addo said UN resolutions mean nothing without the will to enforce them. He defended Africa’s infrastructure deals with China and asked the world to help stop illicit financial flows from the continent.

Under a theme of poverty, education, and climate, Akufo-Addo said poverty is a daily reality for developing countries and that Ghana now spends a third of its budget on education. He called for an end to illicit outflows and for reliable power and internet in towns and villages.

“As individual sovereign countries, the responsibility is ours not only to aim at reducing poverty but to actually create prosperity for all our citizens.”

In a pre-recorded address during the pandemic, Akufo-Addo called for any COVID-19 vaccine to reach rich and poor alike, and for a restructured financial system. He backed Africa’s Ezulwini Consensus on Security Council reform and promised free and fair elections.

“We have all gone down together, we should all rise together.”

Akufo-Addo said Africa did not wish to be a scar on anyone’s conscience, called for fair vaccine access, and warned against using vaccines as an immigration tool. He argued that global institutions would look very different if Africa had helped create them.

“If there was ever a time for an African Marshall Plan, it is now!”

Akufo-Addo said the international financial system is skewed against economies like Ghana’s, and that the war in Ukraine was felt directly in Africa. Paying tribute to Nkrumah, he called Africa “ready for business” and pointed to the Free Trade Area secretariat in Accra.

“Every bullet, every bomb, every shell that hits a target in Ukraine, hits our pockets and our economies in Africa.”

With Ghana on the Security Council, Akufo-Addo said trust among nations had collapsed and the UN risked perpetuating an unfair order. He brought reparations for the transatlantic slave trade to the fore and demanded the return of Africa’s illicit financial outflows.

“It is time to acknowledge openly that much of Europe and the United States have been built from the vast wealth harvested from the sweat, tears, blood and horrors of the trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and the centuries of colonial exploitation.”

In his final address, Akufo-Addo said Africa wants opportunities, not handouts, and cited 5.7 million students through free senior high school. He called Africa’s lack of a permanent Council seat incomprehensible and warned that coups in the Sahel show democracy must be nurtured.

“Yes, we are a continent rich in potential and resilient in the face of adversity, but we have also been disadvantaged by a global system that has generally treated us as an afterthought.”