As more than 120 presidents, prime ministers and monarchs meet this week for the UN General Assembly, it is clear that respective delegates have a well-crafted agenda to advance and achieve by the end of the forum. The West will, for example, seek to seek justify regime change and intervention in Syria, as well as rally nations against socio-economic and political ties with Iran. Iran on the other hand, while it will seek to assert its right of self-determination, will expose the Western world’s hegemony for the conflict it is brewing around the globe. Palestine will agitate to elevate its status from permanent observer to non-member observer status.

As the world body holds its 67th UN General Assembly, it is a shame that Africa has no significant voice in the World body, except when it is lobbied to rubberstamp other regions’ agenda. The fact that African countries occupy a majority of seats in the UN General assembly has not helped the situation either. It is imperative that Africa crafts a continental agenda, advances it and  strategically uses its numbers for its own good. The continental agenda ought to reverse the old trade order where the continent exports raw materials and imports finished products; the continent’s minerals are plundered with impunity and don't benefit Africa's citizenry; the continent is food insecure in spite of good climate and soils; and the continent is used as a laboratory for socio-economic and political experiments.