Mahama Declares “The Future is African” and Directs Africa to Leverage its Natural Resources to Benefit its People

On 25 September 2025, Ghanaian President John Mahama emphatically repeated: “The Future is African” to drive the point home. Then, he directed Africa to join hands in order to fully leverage its mineral wealth. He also urged reforms of the United Nations Security Council and Global Financial Architecture to reflect the new realities.

“In this era of global uncertainty, Africa must exercise sovereignty over its natural resources to raise the necessary funds to ensure the well-being of its citizens … We are tired of the continued image of poverty-stricken, disease-ridden rural communities, living at the periphery of huge foreign-controlled natural concession areas. We are tired of having people extract the most they can from us and, in return, offer us the very least by way of respect, consideration, and dignity. We are tired of not being represented in ways that reveal the richness and complexity of our history or acknowledge all that we have overcome to arrive here, in this liminal space of untold possibilities.”

Ghana President John Mahama

Mahama firmly believes that days of giving away vast mining blocks to foreign interests are counted and must come to an end. Africa welcomes foreign direct investment (#FDI) into its mining sector, but Africa must get a better and fairer share of the natural resources on and under its land.

Ghana took the lead to bring its Minerals and Mining Act and Policies up-to-date to take into account sustainability, community engagement, and local value addition (#LVA). Many resource-rich African countries are also the poorest and unequitable countries which is highly ironic and paradoxical. That state of affairs is not sustainable and African governments have the duty to put to break from the shackles of ‘mineral colonialism’ or continue to wallow at the bottom of the pit.