“It is a different world we currently live in, and we should accept that this organization (UN) must change to suit contemporary needs,” he said, when addressing the 73rd Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York on Wednesday.

The 73rd UNGA is being held under the theme: “Making the United Nations Relevant to All People: Global Leadership and Shared Responsibilities for Peaceful, Equitable and Sustainable Societies.”

President Akufo-Addo noted that, the world continued to be faced with the stark reality that resolutions, norms and any number of votes in the Security Council and General Assembly “mean nothing without the political will to enforce them.”

“We are still to come to terms with what the role of our organization should be. Should it just be a club of nation states that exists to look after their own interests?    The President asked, “What of its constitution by “we the peoples”, as declared in its founding document? Does the theme we have chosen for this assembly have any relevance in real life, and do we want to make the United Nations relevant to all people?

“Do we want an organization that ensures shared responsibilities for peaceful, equitable and sustainable societies? Or should it remain the place to pass resolutions that are ignored with impunity? he quizzed.

Emphatic that current global challenges, like the trade war being stoked between the two largest economies of the world, affected mostly countries, who had no say, the President said such events were proof that the world was interdependent, and the UN “provides the best vehicle for all nations to address their aspirations and challenges.”

He said Ghana, and for the matter, Africa, are determined to pull out of poverty into prosperity and “We do not think that a nation needs to remain poor or become poor for others to become prosperous.”  “We believe that there is room, and there are enough resources on this planet for us all to be prosperous. But it does mean that the rules and regulations that we fashion to guide our dealings with each other have to be respected by all of us. From the environment to trading rules, we have to accept that there cannot be different set of rules for different countries.

He continued, “It is important to reiterate that advocating for a world order in which all countries sign up to obey the rules does not mean that we want uniformity. We take pride in what distinguishes us as Africans and as Ghanaians.

“It is in everybody’s interest that we, who are counted amongst the poor of the world, make a rapid transformation from poverty to prosperity. We are determined in Ghana, and, increasingly, in more and more parts of Africa, to chart our own paths to prosperity, and pay our own way in the world.

"We are no longer interested in being a burden on others. We will shoulder our own responsibilities and build societies and nations that will be attractive to our youth. We have the necessary sense of enterprise, creativity, innovation and hard work to engineer this transition. Hence, our vision of a Ghana Beyond Aid, indeed, of an Africa Beyond Aid.”

Thus the President noted, “It is important that the United Nations is reformed to be able to preside over this changed and changing world to which we all aspire. The powerful nations must be willing to adapt to the changes to make our world a better place… After all, we all inhabit the same planet, and we all owe the same duty of care to ensure its survival.”