‘Reform will be grounded in past failures’ – Mahama

President John Dramani Mahama says Africa’s next phase of transformation must draw lessons from history while boldly pursuing future promise.

Delivering opening remarks at the Accra Reset “Addis Reckoning” event in Addis Ababa ahead of the African Union Assembly, Mahama framed the initiative as a shift from rhetoric to coordinated action.

“We began this dialogue at the Health Sovereignty Summit in Accra. I gave it political voice at the UN General Assembly, tested them in Davos, and today in Addis Ababa, we move into action,” he said.

The President stressed that reform would not be cosmetic or reactive.

“Reform will be grounded in knowledge of past failures while animated by future promise,” he told assembled leaders, executives and multilateral partners.

The Addis Reckoning side event, hosted before the official opening of the AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government, convened continental leaders and chief executives of private businesses and multilateral organisations to deliberate on Africa’s strategic direction under the Accra Reset Initiative.

Mahama used the platform to revisit a central theme of his recent global engagements: Africa must stop choosing between bold aspirations and so-called practical limits.

“Excellencies, there is a quiet truth we rarely say aloud,” he noted. “For years, Africa’s leaders have been asked to choose between ambition and realism. The Accra Reset rejects that false choice. Ambition becomes realistic when institutions align, partners listen, and execution becomes a shared responsibility.”

He also highlighted expanding South-South partnerships as a pillar of the initiative.

“On Global Partnerships, the New Bandung Spirit is gaining expression. Exchanges with South Korea, Singapore, India, and Indonesia are opening pathways for technological learning and digital trade. AI is becoming embedded in our industrial planning and governance systems,” Mahama stated.

Discussions at the event are centred on a proposed framework for free movement and talent circulation backed by a digital passport, new strategies to extract greater value from Africa’s minerals, reform of global health governance systems, and coordinated approaches to artificial intelligence.

In Davos earlier this year, Mahama warned that dependence on donor systems, external security arrangements and raw material exports had trapped Africa in what he described as a cycle of vulnerability.