President Mahama appeals to global north to support Accra Reset Agenda

President John Dramani Mahama has appealed to the advanced nations of the global north to support the Accra Reset Initiative. 

The President made the appeal when he formally unveiled the Accra Reset Initiative at the Davos Commitment on the sideline of the 2026 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. 

“Friends, we didn’t come here to ask for charity. We came to propose a global partnership of the willing, based on a shared vision and mutual respect,” he stated. 

“The Accra Reset is building the architecture for a new kind of cooperation. 

“One where Global South countries don’t just receive programmes but co-design them with our partners in the global north. 

“Where we don’t just attract investment but shape it around our priorities. 

“We want to create Prosperity Spheres across regional platforms where countries coordinate on investment, infrastructure, and jobs.” 

Touching on the legacy he wanted to leave behind, the President said, he wanted to leave a continent where young people would not risk their lives crossing the Mediterranean, because they had opportunities at home. 

“We want to leave systems that work, industries that thrive, and nations that stand tall. Ghana can’t do it alone. Africa can’t do it alone,” he said. 

“This is a call to every leader in this room. If you believe in a world where prosperity is shared, not just based on narrow interests, join us.” 

“If you believe the Global South deserves partnership, not a pity, join us. 

“If you believe, the next chapter of human progress will be written in Accra, Nairobi, Kigali, Abuja, and Cairo, join us. 

He noted that the Accra Reset was not seeking permission; declaring that they were building momentum. 

President Mahama recalled that 20 years ago, the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and several courageous world leaders, including former President Olusengun Obasanjo here, made a simple, powerful case: HIV/AIDS was killing millions in Africa, and a global response was needed. 

He said this courage created the architecture of the Global Fund, which saved millions of lives in Africa and across the world. 

He noted that that fight succeeded because leaders decided to act together, with urgency and without excuses; saying “Today, I am not so sure.” 

He said the United States was cutting funding for the United Nations system and other global organisations that had saved millions of lives. 

“We face an unpredictable world. This is why Africa must be responsible for its destiny. Today, we face a different pandemic: the pandemic of unfulfilled potential,” he said. 

Citing that millions of young people had no jobs, health systems that collapsed at the first crisis and economies that extracted their resources but built nothing lasting. 

“If we could mobilise the world to fight a disease, why can’t we mobilise to fight poverty? To fight dependency? To fight the systems that keep brilliant young Africans locked out of the future.” 

The President said in Ghana, they were proving something important execution beats excuses. 

“We’re cutting government spending and have reduced the size of government to a record low: 58 ministers and deputy ministers,” he said.

“We’re digitising services to end corruption. We’re training young people for tomorrow’s jobs, not yesterday. 

“We have renegotiated our debt so we can invest in our people, not just service loans. This is the “Resetting Ghana” agenda.” 

Former Nigerian President Olusengun Obasanjo, who leads the Guardian Circle of the Accra Initiative, said they intend to embed the Accra Initiative in the North-South Dialogue to negotiate with their friends and development partners in the North about certain critical reforms as well as concrete projects to boost access to health facilities and technology. 

He said: “The future will not be given to the unprepared. It will be negotiated. It will be built. And it will belong to those who prepare, unite, and organize for it.” 

Source: GNA