YVONNE'S TAKE: Africa do unto others

For decades, Africa has argued, correctly, that the global order does not reflect modern realities.

A continent of 1.4 billion people still has no permanent seat on the UN Security Council. Global financial systems continue to disadvantage developing economies. Climate negotiations routinely expose a painful imbalance: Africa contributes the least to global emissions, yet suffers some of the worst consequences.

And so, calls for reform have grown louder.

This week, once again, world leaders renewed conversations around giving Africa a stronger voice in global governance, a greater role in institutions that shape finance, security, trade and diplomacy.

It is an argument rooted in fairness. And history supports it.

Much of the global architecture we live under today was built in the aftermath of the World War II, at a time when much of Africa was still colonised. The world has changed dramatically since then. The institutions governing it, far less so.

But perhaps there is also a harder question worth asking.

As African governments demand a bigger seat at the global table, how much room are they making for their own citizens at home?

Because representation is not only an international issue. It is also a domestic one.

What moral authority does an African government carry onto the global stage when dissent at home is treated with suspicion? When citizens struggle to be heard beyond election cycles? When young people demanding accountability are met with hostility instead of engagement?

Africa’s case for inclusion globally is legitimate. But legitimacy abroad cannot be separated from legitimacy at home.

And this is not to diminish the continent’s aspirations, far from it.

Africa deserves a stronger voice in institutions that determine debt restructuring, peacekeeping, climate financing and trade rules. Decisions made in Washington, New York, Brussels and Beijing profoundly affect African lives.

Yet there is a danger too in believing that symbolic victories on the world stage will transform the lives of ordinary citizens back home.

A seat at the table is important. But what ultimately matters is what is done with the seat.

Will global influence translate into better governance? Will diplomatic victories improve public trust? Will new partnerships strengthen institutions, or merely strengthen political elites?

Because history teaches us something uncomfortable: exclusion can happen internationally, but it can also happen nationally.

Sometimes citizens feel just as distant from power in their own capitals as developing nations feel from power globally.

And perhaps that is the deeper lesson here.

The conversation Africa is demanding from the world, about fairness, inclusion and dignity, is also the very conversation many citizens are demanding from their own governments.

The world may indeed need to make more room for Africa. But Africa, too, must continue making more room for its people. Because a continent cannot demand inclusion abroad while shrinking democratic space at home.