I Am Kandaka: The First Female United Nations Secretary-General

The book I Am Kandaka: The First Female United Nations Secretary-General confronts one of the most enduring contradictions in modern global governance: an institution founded on equality that has never been led by a woman. With clarity, authority, and moral force, it argues that the absence of female leadership at the United Nations is not a historical accident but the product of entrenched structures, geopolitical gatekeeping, and long-standing gender bias. It is a bold, urgent, and deeply original contribution to the global leadership debate.

Drawing inspiration from the Kandaka the powerful Nubian queens who ruled with legitimacy, courage, and strategic vision the book introduces a compelling leadership ethos rooted in African history yet profoundly relevant to twenty-first-century multilateralism. Kandaka is not treated as symbolism alone, but as a governing philosophy that challenges hierarchical, exclusionary models of power and replaces them with inclusive, principled, and resilient leadership.

What sets I Am Kandaka apart is its rigorous analysis. Rather than relying on rhetoric, the author systematically dissects the UN Secretary-General selection process, exposing how veto power, opaque negotiations, and patriarchal norms have repeatedly sidelined highly qualified women. Through rich case studies of women who have successfully led nations, global institutions, climate negotiations, and human rights bodies, the book demonstrates that women have long been prepared to lead at the highest level the system has failed to allow it.

Written with scholarly depth and accessible prose, I Am Kandaka speaks to diplomats, policymakers, academics, activists, and general readers alike. It is both a critique of the status quo and a manifesto for renewal, arguing that breaking the UN's 80-year glass ceiling is not symbolic it is essential to restoring legitimacy, credibility, and trust in a fractured world.

The book is equally forward-looking. It offers a clear roadmap for change, outlining practical steps to reform the selection process, mobilise civil society, build diplomatic coalitions, and prepare female candidates for global leadership. In doing so, it transforms advocacy into strategy and aspiration into action.

At a time when multilateralism itself is under strain, I Am Kandaka offers a powerful and unavoidable conclusion: the future of global leadership cannot resemble its past. This book is essential reading for anyone concerned with gender equality, international governance, diplomacy and the future of the United Nations.