President William Ruto on Wednesday, February 19, 2025, continued with his push for Africa to get a permanent seat at the United Nations Security Council.

In a statement, the head of state indicated that Kenya was willing to work with other parties advocating for Africa’s representation at the UN Security Council.

President Ruto underscored the need for Africa to be part of that critical body insisting that some of the decisions outlined during their meetings directly affect the continent.

He highlighted the issue of global governance and unfair international architecture among the issues which Africa needed to be at the negotiation table.

“The adoption of the United Nations Pact of the Future in 2024 will help reposition the global agency to deal with the challenges of global governance and an unfair international financial architecture.

“It is also crucial to reform the UN Security Council to make it more representative and more democratic as it makes crucial decisions,” Ruto stated.

“Kenya will work with the Committee of 10, which is advocating reform of the UN Security Council, to ensure that Africa achieves fair representation,” he added.

He made the remarks during a meeting with UN General Assembly President Philémon Yang at State House Nairobi. During their meeting, Ruto shared with Yang how Africa would benefit from that inclusion.

UN General Assembly President Yang is currently in the country for several meetings and a lecture at Strathmore University.

The Council is composed of 15 Members where five are permanent ( China, France, Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States) while the ten non-permanent members are elected for two-year terms by the General Assembly.

Ruto is at the forefront of championing the inclusion of Africa as a permanent member of the UN Security Council. In various global stages, the head of state has not shied away from speaking his mind.

With the UN General boss in town, Ruto capitalised on the opportunity to advocate for that agenda.

Guterres Push

Ruto’s sentiments come days after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres indicated that there was no excuse as to why Africa still lacks permanent representation on the UN Security Council.

Speaking in Ethiopia where he attended the 38th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the Heads of State and Government of the African Union, he insisted that Africa needed to be considered as urgently as possible.

Nonetheless, Guterres assured heads of state at the summit that he would keep working with them to ensure the continent gets a seat at the decision-making table.

Many African heads of state described the UN Security Council as dysfunctional and non-inclusive and have been campaigning for two seats on the council for nearly 80 years since its establishment.