‘We are in it together,’ Ghana tells UN Assembly

While sceptics feared the landmark Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were “too many and too complex” to be tackled, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, President of Ghana told the United Nations today that the Organization’s experience has proved that “once the world puts its collective mind to something, the chances are, we would get it right.”

Addressing delegations at the General Assembly’s general debate, he underscored that the recent devastation caused by floods in the United States, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Dominica, Puerto Rico, Antigua and Barbuda, St. Martin and Niger was a reminder that as inhabitants of this planet, “we are in it together,” at the mercy of nature.

Mr. Akufo-Addo said he was speaking today because of elections that voted out an incumbent Government. “We continue to be a beacon of democracy and stability on the continent, our institutions of State are growing stronger, and we have made more progress with our economy than at any time since independence,” he said. While Ghana has made strides towards the SDGs, he said that it continues to grow its economy and open up opportunities for all Ghanaians.

Turning to Africa’s commitment to remaining a nuclear weapon-free continent, Mr. Akufo-explained that three weeks ago, highly-enriched uranium was flown out of Ghana back to China, “signalling the end of the removal of all such material from the country.” He underscored: “A world, free of nuclear weapons, must be in all our collective interest.”

Drawing attention to UN reform, Ghana zeroed-in on “the longstanding injustice” that the Security Council’s current composition represents for African nations. “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 […] seen by many as helping to perpetuate an unfair world order,” stressed Mr. Akufo-Addo.