Ghana has been elected as the First Vice Chair of the African Union (AU) for 2026, representing the West African region on the Bureau of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government.
The election took place on Saturday at the 39th Ordinary Session of the AU Assembly in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where President Évariste Ndayishimiye of Burundi was formally elected as Chairperson of the African Union for the year 2026.
President Ndayishimiye takes over the rotating leadership from Angola’s President João Lourenço, who served as AU Chair for 2025.
The composition of the new Bureau includes Burundi as Chair representing Central Africa, Ghana as First Vice representing West Africa, Tanzania as Second Vice representing East Africa, Angola as Rapporteur representing Southern Africa, and a Third Vice from North Africa yet to be confirmed.
The two-day summit is being held under the theme “Assuring Sustainable Water Availability and Safe Sanitation Systems to Achieve the Goals of Agenda 2063.”
Ghana’s position as First Vice Chair comes as President John Dramani Mahama prepares to assume the full chairmanship of the African Union in 2027, as earlier acknowledged by UN Secretary-General António Guterres during bilateral talks on Friday.
The summit has focused on water security, peace and security issues across the continent, and calls for African solidarity, financial independence, and collective efforts to shape the global agenda.
President Mahama is leading Ghana’s delegation to the summit, where he has championed continental issues including reparations, gender equality, and financial inclusion, while hosting several high-level side events including the ‘Addis Reckoning’ breakfast meeting on the Accra Reset initiative.
Richard Aniagyei, ISD
