NEW YORK — Kenyan President William Ruto on Tuesday used his speech at the 80th United Nations General Assembly to call for sweeping reforms of global governance structures, insisting that Africa must no longer be excluded from the world’s most consequential decision-making tables.
Ruto said the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), frozen in the post-World War II power balance, is failing to reflect today’s realities. He argued that Africa — the only continent without a permanent seat — deserves at least two permanent seats with veto power and two additional non-permanent seats.
You cannot claim to be the United Nations while disregarding the voice of 54 nations, Ruto said, stressing that Africa’s exclusion is “unacceptable, unfair, and grossly unjust.
The president underscored that Africa already dominates much of the UNSC agenda, provides some of the largest contingents of UN peacekeepers, and bears the heaviest costs of global instability — yet remains sidelined in critical decisions.
Ruto warned that reforming the Security Council is not a favor to Africa but a necessity for the UN’s own survival. Without reform, he cautioned, the institution risks sliding into irrelevance, much like the League of Nations before it.
Beyond institutional reform, Ruto also called for restructuring the global financial system to give developing nations fairer access to resources, highlighting how existing structures disproportionately favor wealthy countries.
As Kenya hosts the only UN headquarters in the Global South, Ruto pledged Nairobi’s readiness to support reforms envisioned under the UN80 renewal agenda.
“The 80th anniversary of the United Nations must be more than a commemoration. It must be a turning point,” he said. “Let us rebuild the UN into a body that commands legitimacy, responds with speed, and delivers justice for all.”
