Vice President Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang has renewed calls for increased 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, she stressed that meaningful reforms to global governance institutions can no longer be delayed.
“If we are serious about defending democracy, then reform of these institutions cannot be deferred. 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,” he said
Professor Opoku-Agyemang also called for urgent reforms 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, coupled with rising debt burdens, continue to constrain governments’ ability to deliver on development priorities and sustain democratic gains.
“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 added.
According to her, addressing these systemic challenges is critical to strengthening democratic institutions and restoring public confidence in governance, particularly in developing economies.
