Ruto renews push for fair global finance, permanent African seat on UN Security Council

President William Ruto addressing the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Wednesday, September 23, 2026. /PCS President William Ruto has renewed Kenya's call for reforms to the international financial system and the United Nations Security Council.

The Head of State argued that global institutions must reflect the realities of today's world rather than inequalities inherited from the past.

Addressing the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Wednesday, Ruto said Africa's exclusion from permanent representation on the Security Council was inconsistent with the principle of sovereign equality on which the UN was founded.

He noted that while every UN member state has one vote in the General Assembly, five countries hold permanent powers on the Security Council that the other 188 do not.