President John Dramani Mahama has called for a fundamental restructuring of how the Global South engages with international development partners, arguing that African nations must build internal fiscal resilience rather than rely on declining foreign aid.
Addressing global policymakers and business leaders at the Financial Times Africa Summit in London, President Mahama highlighted the emergence of the “Accra Reset”, an international framework established to address structural shifts in global development finance, particularly the sharp reduction in Official Development Assistance (ODA).
Detailing the immediate impact of global aid retrenchment on domestic budgets, President Mahama revealed that Ghana had experienced a direct loss of $154 million annually in foreign assistance, following shifts in donor funding, including the withdrawal of USAID allocations. Of this total, $74 million previously supported Ghana’s public healthcare interventions, including the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), antiretroviral supplies and HIV testing infrastructure.
“What I say is that the response to dwindling aid is not to learn how to improve your begging skills,” President Mahama stated. “You need to respond in a different way by becoming more resilient and more sustainable… We cannot continue to be dependent forever.”
Overhauling Development Assistance and Global Finance
The Accra Reset framework, which has established its governing council and secured backing from major global health institutions, including the World Health Organization (WHO), Gavi and the Global Fund, seeks to eliminate fragmented donor projects. Under the framework, sovereign nations will establish unified national priorities, requiring external funding partners to align directly with state budgets and strategic goals.
President Mahama criticised the systemic inequities of the global financial architecture, pointing out that African nations continue to borrow at interest rates up to eight times higher than those of their Western peers, despite contributing just 4 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
He noted that more than $200 billion leaves the African continent annually, including $80 billion in interest repayments and $90 billion in illicit financial flows, far exceeding dwindling ODA, which declined by 23.5 percent globally in 2025.
Domestic Reforms and Fiscal Discipline
To counter these external pressures, President Mahama emphasised that Ghana has relied on internal legislative and financial governance reforms under its broader “Reset Agenda”. Amendments to the Public Financial Management Act and Procurement Act, alongside the operationalisation of the Fiscal Responsibility Council, have curbed expenditure leakages and freed up domestic revenue.
These internal efficiencies are currently funding major national social and infrastructure interventions without relying on external bailouts. Through the Big Push Programme, the government is undertaking a $10 billion, five-year infrastructure rollout, allocating $2 billion annually to roads, schools, health facilities and agricultural irrigation schemes.
On the social intervention front, the National Menstrual Hygiene Programme operates as a fully state-funded initiative financed through the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund). It distributes monthly hygiene products to schoolgirls nationwide to eliminate gender-related absenteeism.
Furthermore, the strategy prioritises pharmaceutical self-reliance through targeted domestic investment in pharmaceutical manufacturing and vaccine production hubs to protect the continent against future global supply chain disruptions.
Concluding his address, President Mahama reiterated that building a financially self-sustaining Global South serves global stability by transforming historical dependencies into equitable commercial partnerships.
