Cynthia Thanda

On 23 September 2009, during the 64th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Muammar Gaddafi, President of the Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, criticised the structural inequalities of the United Nations.

He demanded that Africa be granted a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, stating that the continent had already waited too long. He argued that Africa’s exploitation and suffering through colonisation and persecution deserved immediate recognition.

On 22 September 2011, during his address to the 66th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Robert Mugabe, former President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, called for Africa to have at least two permanent seats on the Security Council. He stated that Africa could not remain the only region without permanent membership in the Security Council.

These calls have been reiterated and reaffirmed by His Excellency William Samoei Ruto, President of the Republic of Kenya, during his address at the 81st United Nations General Assembly on 22 September 2026.

“You cannot claim to be the United Nations while disregarding the voice of 54 nations. It is not possible.

Africa is no longer willing to wait on the margins of global governance while decisions about peace, security, Security Council reform and development are made without our understanding, perspectives and voice.

Africa’s exclusion is unacceptable, unfair and grossly unjust and undermines the very credibility of the United Nations,” Ruto said.

He expressed how Africa dominates most of the Security Council agenda, provides some of the largest contingents of UN peacekeeping forces and bears the highest costs of instability. Yet it remains the only continent without a permanent seat at the main table where decisions about its destiny are made.

“Africa deserves, at the very least, two permanent seats with full rights, including the right to veto, and two additional non-permanent seats on the UNSC,” President Ruto stated.

He further spoke on how Africa is uniting its voice. Africa is now taking bold and deliberate steps to strengthen its financial independence, safeguard its stability and accelerate its development.

Kenya has fully endorsed the establishment of the Alliance of African Financial Institutions, launched with the African Union in February 2024.

The African Union is championing three transformative institutions:

> The African Central Bank, which will issue a single currency and free trade from dependence on foreign money.

> The African Monetary Fund, positioned to stabilise African economies and give the continent financial sovereignty.

> The African Investment Bank, designed to mobilise resources for the infrastructure, industrialisation and integration that Africa needs to rise

In 2023, Nairobi, Kenya hosted the inaugural Africa Climate Summit, where the continent adopted the Nairobi Declaration on Climate Action and Call to Action.

Two weeks ago, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Africa came together once again at the Africa Climate Summit to reaffirm its commitment and strengthen its ambition for climate-positive growth.

© TPA2026