President William Ruto has called for an end to a Security Council structure that reserves permanent power and veto authority for five countries while excluding the other 188 Member States.
The President said Africa’s 54 nations remain permanently excluded from permanent membership of the Security Council even though the continent is frequently the subject of the Council’s decisions.
He said reform must correct that imbalance by giving Africa equitable and permanent representation, with all the prerogatives and privileges of permanent membership.
“Every nation in this hall has one vote. Every nation is sovereign and equal under the Charter. Yet on the gravest questions of war and peace, five nations possess a permanent power that the other 188 do not,” he said.
He made the remarks when he addressed the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York on Wednesday.
The President called for urgent reform of the United Nations to restore trust in the global institution.
He pointed out that nations, especially in Africa, cannot build trust in a system that proclaims equality while preserving inequality in its structures, or applies international law inconsistently.
Explaining that the world must build a United Nations where every nation has a voice, President Ruto stated that every country has a stake and every child has a future.
“If we are serious about restoring trust, then rules must apply consistently. If we are serious about managing transformation, then our institutions must themselves transform. And if we seek a United Nations that delivers for all, then all must have a meaningful voice, a fair opportunity and a stake in the system,” he said.
The President called for Africa to have equitable and permanent representation on the United Nations Security Council.
He pointed out that Africa must have a meaningful voice in the decisions that shape global peace and security.
“The world has transformed. The Council has not. We cannot manage transformation with institutions that refuse to transform themselves,” he said.
President Ruto explained that the current international security architecture was designed at a time when most of Africa was under colonial rule, and therefore had no voice in shaping the institutions governing global peace.
“At San Francisco, only four African countries were represented while most of our continent remained under colonial rule,” he said.
He noted that in the Pact for the Future, Member States had agreed that redressing historical injustices against Africa must be a priority in Security Council reform.
At the same time, the President called for reform of the international financial architecture so that every nation gets a fair opportunity to secure the wellbeing of its people.
He said development cannot remain most expensive for the countries that need investment most, while debt service crowds out classrooms, healthcare and opportunity.
He pointed out that global public debt reached a record $102 trillion in 2024, with developing countries accounting for less than a third of that debt. Yet they paid about $1 trillion in interest that year alone.
“Forty-six developing countries now spend more on interest than on health or education. Behind these numbers lies a simple reality: The hospital competes with the creditor, the classroom competes with debt service and, too often, the creditor is paid first,” he said.
President Ruto said the world cannot build a fair global economy if nations with the greatest development needs face the highest cost of development finance.
He called for multilateral development banks to lend more and for greater use of guarantees, risk-sharing instruments, long-term finance and local currency financing to lower the cost of viable investments.
The President said international reform alone will not be enough, pointing out that nations must manage debt prudently, strengthen institutions, deepen domestic capital markets, honour contracts and confront corruption without equivocation.
“Governments must also do their part to manage debt prudently, prepare credible projects and deepen domestic capital markets,” he said.
He added: “A fairer international system requires responsibility on both sides. Reform abroad cannot substitute for accountability at home.”
The President also called for political and financial reform to be matched with action so that global institutions deliver peace, prosperity and opportunity more fairly for all.
“Political reform and financial reform are not separate projects. They ask the same fundamental question: Whether the institutions that govern our common future will reflect the sovereign equality they proclaim, or preserve inequalities inherited from another age,” he said.
He warned that failure to build an effective United Nations, capable of preventing conflict, defending peace and advancing development, would come at a heavy cost to civilians.
Consequently, he pointed out, children would be driven from classrooms, families displaced, hospitals would collapse and economies would be consumed by war.
“When collective security breaks down, schools close, hospitals collapse, families flee and economies are consumed by war. Peace is not separate from development. It is its first condition. When the institutions entrusted with peace fail, it is too often the youngest who inherit the consequences,” he said.
President Ruto said Africa was not approaching the global system merely to demand change, but was offering solutions backed by its mineral wealth, agricultural potential, renewable energy resources, a youthful population and a market of more than 1.5 billion people.
“Africa does not come to plead. We came to propose,” he said.
On the domestic front, the President announced that Kenya expects to break ground on the East Africa Refinery in Lamu, a facility capable of processing 700,000 barrels of oil a day with an investment of $16 billion (KSh2 trillion).
“Its significance extends beyond one project or one country. It represents the Africa we seek to build: Adding value at home, creating jobs for our people and building industries capable of serving continental and global markets,” he said.
The President called on those pushing for reform not to accept that reform is impossible simply because it is difficult.
He noted that the United Nations had changed its architecture before. In 1963, the General Assembly adopted amendments to enlarge the Security Council.
“The Council grew from 11 to 15 members because Member States recognised that the institution had to respond to a changing membership. What was possible then is possible again,” he said.
