President Uhuru Kenyatta has called for the democratization of multilateral organizations to ensure inclusivity in decision-making.
Speaking on Friday, at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum in Turkey, Uhuru said changing how multilateral institutions such as the United Nations are managed will help in quicker resolution of global challenges such as Covid-19.
"It will really depend on us being able to change the global governance system. The manner in which the UN Security Council works, the manner in which the UN and its organizations work in order for us to determine whether we shall see change," he said.
The Head of State said the global multilateral system was not operating optimally and he expressed optimism that world leaders will through diplomacy and dialogue develop a new order that fosters inclusivity.
Uhuru said that the global governance system is not working for equality and fairness for all global citizens.
He added that the slow flow of Covid-19 vaccines into developing countries was indicative of the warped global multilateral system.
"We were also very active in the early stages, participating in the acts of companies and corporations that were developing vaccines. Participating in the clinical trials but unfortunately despite our preparations, when it came to the crunch and the crunch here is accessing vaccines that would have given us all protection, we were at the bottom of the list," Uhuru said.
The President said it is unfortunate that some countries have more Covid-19 vaccines than they require while others are struggling to access enough doses.
On Africa's response to Covid-19, Uhuru said the continent united behind the African Union which ensured all countries had equitable access to resources needed to fight the pandemic.
"When I look at how we as African countries responded (to Covid-19) under the AU (African Union), we were very closely knit in terms of our reactions and actions. How we cooperated in developing and coming up with COVAX to ensure vaccines were going to be available not to one particular country," he said.
He said that despite all nations being negatively affected by Covid-19, developing countries are feeling more pain because of their higher vulnerabilities.
"The kind of vaccine nationalism and bias of withholding vaccines that we have seen is shocking with some countries having more vaccines than they need for their citizens while others cannot afford a single dose," he noted.
Uhuru spoke on the first day of his two-day official visit to Turkey.
During the visit, he is also expected to hold bilateral talks with the visiting Heads of States and Government.
