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President John Dramani Mahama of Ghana recently delivered a speech at the United Nations General Assembly that touched on two critical issues: how the global economy is rigged against Africa, and why the United Nations needs reform to include permanent African representation on the Security Council. While these points resonate with many Africans, they ultimately highlight deeper problems that require more radical solutions than simply pointing out systemic inequalities. The speech, well-intentioned as it may be, fails to address the fundamental reality that these international systems were never designed for African emancipation in the first place.
The global economic system that Mahama criticized has its roots in enslavement, colonialism, and neo-colonialism – precisely what Ghana's first president Kwame Nkrumah warned about decades ago. Institutions like the IMF and World Bank, despite their development rhetoric, often implement policies that keep African nations in subordinate economic positions. This isn't accidental but structural. The startling statistic that Africa possesses 60-70% of the world's mineral resources yet accounts for only 2% of global trade should serve as a glaring red flag. This disparity reveals that the current economic order is functioning exactly as designed – to extract wealth from Africa rather than to develop it.
Rather than lamenting this rigged system, African leaders should focus on solutions within their control. The African Continental Free Trade Area represents a positive step, creating the world's largest economic partnership, bigger than both the EU and NAFTA. What Ghana and other African nations need is to dramatically increase intra-African trade rather than continuing to prioritize economic relationships with the EU, America, China, and India. When goods, services, and means of production remain within Africa and move throughout the continent, they create opportunities, generate wealth, and provide jobs for Africa's burgeoning youth population. This approach doesn't require permission from global powers – it requires political will from African leadership.

Similarly, we question whether seeking inclusion in the UN Security Council addresses the real issues when conflicts in Sudan and Congo receive fraction of the international attention given to Ukraine or Gaza.
Perhaps most importantly, we examine how the African Union has lost its way since the death of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Once financially independent, the AU now relies on funding from the very powers that have historically exploited the continent. What Africa needs is not a seat at someone else's table but to build its own table – a reset of the African Union that makes it truly representative.

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