Speaking on behalf of the African Group of States at the Second World Summit for Social Development in Doha, Qatar, President William Ruto delivered a forceful indictment of the current global order, urgently demanding a comprehensive restructuring of multilateral institutions and the international financial architecture to address deep-seated inequalities. In his address to a high-level forum attended by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and numerous heads of state, the Kenyan President articulated the continent’s united call for historical justice and a reformed United Nations, arguing that true global social progress remains impossible under the current framework of uneven power and representation.

The centerpiece of the African presentation was an uncompromising demand for structural reform within the United Nations Security Council, the global body’s most powerful decision-making organ. Africa has formally reiterated its position that the continent must be accorded two permanent seats and two non-permanent seats on the Security Council, complete with full rights and privileges. This necessary change, the President argued, is not merely a matter of political prestige, but an essential mechanism to amplify the voices of the millions of African citizens struggling with poverty and to guarantee that they receive fair representation in the global institutions that determine their economic future. This urgent need for an ethical rebalancing was summarized in a powerful assertion by the President: “True social development cannot thrive without historical justice and equal representation,” linking the pursuit of modern equity directly to the reconciliation of past wrongs.

The call for institutional reform aligns seamlessly with the African Union’s declaration of 2025 as the Year of Justice for Africans and People of African Descent through Reparations. This defining continental step is framed as a foundational move toward justice and healing for both Africa and its global diaspora, simultaneously serving as a call for direct accountability. The President stressed that there must be reckoning for the historical crimes of slavery, colonization, Apartheid, and systemic exploitation, all of which have inflicted lasting human and environmental damage that continues to stunt the continent’s developmental trajectory today. Such a comprehensive approach underscores the belief that addressing contemporary poverty and exclusion requires dismantling the political and economic architecture inherited from centuries of oppression.

Reflecting on the thirty years since the first such summit was held in Copenhagen, Denmark, the President noted that while the world has undergone dramatic shifts, core challenges remain stubbornly fixed. Poverty, debilitating unemployment, and profound social exclusion continue to define the current era, especially across various sub-regions in Africa and Western Asia, where the situation is deteriorating rapidly. He detailed a grim contemporary landscape where hunger is accelerating, economic growth is slowing considerably, and systemic vulnerability is deepening. Health and education systems in many nations are under immense strain, while chronic energy deficits act as a fundamental brake, holding back opportunity and thwarting national development aspirations.

To reverse this tide of compounding crises, the African Group has prioritized key internal transformations, focusing on formalizing the vast informal sectors, significantly enhancing productive capacity across the continent, and securing expanded, more equitable access to global markets. Achieving these domestic goals, however, is inextricably linked to stronger, more committed international cooperation, aligned with existing frameworks like the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and the fundamental Right to Development. In this context, the President issued a stern call for comprehensive reform of the international financial architecture itself, demanding a system that is transparent, fair, and genuinely responsive to the unique and pressing needs of developing nations and their populations. Specific demands put forward included decisive global action to resolve spiraling sovereign debt distress, tangible progress toward the adoption of a United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation to curb illicit financial flows, and the establishment of a formal UN Convention on Sovereign Debt to standardize and humanize debt resolution.

The urgency of these structural shifts is heightened by what President Ruto identified as a worrying trend towards global fragmentation. He cautioned against the gradual ascent of isolationism, noting that nations are increasingly defined by competing self-interests, inward-looking nationalism, and short-term political calculations. He warned that the consensus that once bound the international community together at the Copenhagen summit is now “fraying,” creating a severe risk that the world will retreat into isolation precisely at a critical juncture when coordinated, collaborative action should be the foremost priority.

Offering Kenya’s domestic efforts as a pragmatic case study for implementing people-centred solutions, President Ruto outlined significant achievements under his administration’s Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda. This national strategy, he asserted, affirms that transformative results are achievable when policies are designed to focus on the common citizen. In the education sector, the government has completed the transition to the Competence-Based Education and Training system, simultaneously undertaking an aggressive hiring campaign that has seen 76,000 new teachers employed, a number projected to reach 100,000 by January 2026. This mass recruitment drive is intended to drastically improve the teacher-to-learner ratio from 1:45 to 1:29, positioning Kenya to meet the UNESCO benchmark of 1:25 by 2027. Furthermore, the administration has rapidly expanded the number of technical and vocational education and training institutions nationwide to equip the youth with market-ready skills.

For direct economic empowerment, the government launched the Financial Inclusion Fund, popularly known as the Hustler Fund, which has already disbursed an impressive KSh80 billion, equivalent to approximately $615 million, to 26.7 million Kenyans, providing essential capital to small-scale entrepreneurs and fostering grassroots economic activity. This week, in conjunction with international partners, Kenya is set to launch the National Youth Opportunities Towards Advancement (NYOTA) project, a five-year initiative designed to reach one million young Kenyans by providing financial grants, comprehensive skills training in in-demand fields, and enabling access to government procurement opportunities. Alongside these forward-looking programs, the established Inua Jamii Safety Net Programme has been significantly expanded, now supporting more than 1.7 million vulnerable families across the nation. Further boosting economic activity and addressing the massive housing deficit, 230,000 affordable housing units are currently under construction nationwide, a vast project that has directly generated employment for over 320,000 Kenyans and created substantial opportunities for local artisans and small enterprises. Finally, reforms in the health sector have been dramatic, increasing the number of Kenyans with medical insurance from 8 million in 2023 to 27.2 million today, thereby ensuring that access to healthcare is not denied based on the inability to pay. The President concluded with a final admonition, stressing that it remains incumbent upon all nations to stand with renewed resolve to confront and dismantle the entrenched global structures that enable exclusion and perpetuate inequality.