President John Dramani Mahama has called for a new global bargain that will give countries in the Global South greater control over decisions affecting their health systems and development priorities.
According to President Mahama, countries cannot claim ownership of their health and development programmes when the key decisions and resources remain controlled by external actors.
He made the call in New York on Monday, September 21, 2026, when he addressed a high-level side event on the Accra Reset: Global Reset Dialogue on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly.
President Mahama said the Accra Reset was born out of concerns over a global system in which the health, dignity and future of people in developing countries remain vulnerable to changing donor priorities.
He identified three interconnected challenges confronting the Global South: geostrategic marginalisation, geopolitical vulnerability and donor dependence.
He said addressing these challenges required a connection between political authority, productive capability and financial resilience.
“No Ownership Without Control,” President Mahama declared, arguing that sovereignty cannot be achieved merely because a country signs a donor agreement.
He, however, cautioned that transferring control from international institutions to national governments would also not automatically guarantee sovereignty.
“If we demand control, we must earn it through uncompromising domestic accountability,” he said.
President Mahama said Ghana’s Resetting Ghana Agenda is therefore focused on tightening fiscal controls, fighting corruption and ensuring that public resources are fully accounted for.
He said the same principle must apply across the Global South, insisting that there should be “no control without absolute accountability to our people.”
The President said the principle forms the foundation of what he described as a New Global Bargain, based on responsibility matched by authority, authority backed by productive capacity, and accountability for commitments made by all partners.
He said the Accra Reset is now moving from policy design to execution, with Ghana and the Presidential Council expected to engage governments, global health organisations, development finance institutions, philanthropies and the private sector to translate the recommendations into country-level compacts.
President Mahama also launched the report, “A Sovereign Future for Health,” which contains ten recommendations for reforming the global health architecture.
He said Ghana would work with partners across Africa, India, Indonesia, the Gulf and other regions to develop self-sustaining networks linking research, regulatory oversight, local manufacturing and reliable distribution.
Story by: Emmanuel Romeo Tetteh(#RomeoWrites✍️)/ Presidential Affairs Correspondent | Ghana 🇬🇭