We Will Not Let the Accra Reset Die in New York’s Diplomatic Corridors – President Mahama
President John Dramani Mahama has given an assurance that the Accra Reset will not become another visionary idea that fades away in diplomatic corridors, stating that the initiative is moving from design into execution.
The President said Ghana and the Presidential Council will bring together governments, global health bodies, development finance institutions, philanthropies and the private sector to translate the recommendations of the Accra Reset into country-level compacts.
He said the initiative will be pursued beyond the meetings and declarations that often accompany international gatherings.
President Mahama gave the assurance on Monday when he delivered opening remarks at a High-Level Side Event on the Accra Reset: Global Reset Dialogue at the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York.
“Too often, visionary ideas are born with great fanfare, only to die quietly in New York’s diplomatic corridors. We will not let that happen to the Accra Reset,” he said.
The President noted that the event also marked the launch of “A Sovereign Future for Health,” a report by the High-Level Panel on Reform of the Global Health Architecture and Governance, which sets out ten recommendations. He said the report takes the initiative into a new phase.
“We are now moving from design to execution,” he stated.
President Mahama said that over the coming months, Ghana and the Presidential Council will engage strategic partners, from Brazil’s Fiocruz to leading institutions in India, Indonesia, the Gulf and across Africa, to build self-sustaining networks that connect research, regulatory oversight, local manufacturing and reliable distribution.
He also called for a New Global Bargain founded on responsibility matched by authority, authority backed by real productive capability, and every partner held accountable for their promises.
The President expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Gordon Brown for accepting the responsibility of mobilising global political leadership around the New Global Bargain, and welcomed leaders from France, Spain, the United Kingdom, the G77, the OECD and the Commonwealth who attended the event.
He recalled that the Accra Reset was launched one year ago in New York out of a shared refusal to accept that the only response to a fragmenting aid architecture was a more eloquent plea for charity.
The initiative, according to him, has since established the Presidential Council, the Guardians’ Circle and the High-Level Panel on Reform of the Global Health Architecture and Governance.
President Mahama thanked Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Laura Chinchilla for welcoming the initiative on behalf of the Guardians’ Circle, and expressed appreciation to the Co-Chairs of the Panel, Peter Piot, Elhadj As Sy, Priscila Ferraz Soares and Budi Gunadi Sadikin, as well as Special Advisor Michel Sidibé and every member of the Panel.
He said health was selected as the first battleground for the global reset because it is any human’s most precious possession, with maternal and child health as the first test. He noted that nearly seven out of ten maternal deaths occur in Sub-Saharan Africa, and that Ghana remains three times above the recommended SDG target.
Through the Mother Africa initiative, championed by President Samia Suluhu Hassan of Tanzania, and the Business United for Mothers, Babies and Youth campaign, he said public policy and corporate responsibility are being brought together to safeguard the lives of mothers and children.
The President also expressed appreciation to Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organisation, for his support of global health reform.
He said Ghana will carry the Reset agenda into the heart of Africa’s collective policy framework when it assumes the Chairmanship of the African Union in 2027, working with the Non-Aligned Movement and the G77 plus China.
“We have come full circle; let us not go around in circles,” he said.
Richard Aniagyei, ISD
