Africa must be fully represented on UN Security Council – Veep

Ghana's Vice President Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang has renewed calls for greater African representation on the United Nations Security Council, warning that the continent’s continued exclusion undermines the credibility and effectiveness of the global body.

Speaking at the fourth high-level meeting of the “In Defence of Democracy” Summit in Barcelona on Saturday, April 19, 2026, she stressed that reforms to global governance institutions can no longer be delayed.

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“If we are serious about defending democracy, then reform of these institutions cannot be deferred,” the Vice President stated.

“For Ghana, this includes a long-standing concern: the need to make the United Nations system, particularly the Security Council, more representative of contemporary realities. The absence of adequate African representation continues to affect both credibility and efficiency,” the Vice President added.

Beyond governance reforms, Professor Opoku-Agyemang also called for urgent changes to the global financial architecture to ensure fair and equitable access to resources for developing countries.

She noted that structural inequalities within the international economic system, along with rising debt burdens, continue to limit governments’ ability to meet development goals and sustain democratic progress.

“Democratic legitimacy is also shaped by outcomes. Across much of the developing world, governments’ ability to deliver is constrained by structural factors, including limited access to affordable finance, debt burdens, and unequal terms of participation in the global economy,” she pointed out.

According to her, addressing these systemic challenges is essential to strengthening democratic institutions and restoring public confidence in governance, particularly across developing economies.



PAH/MA

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