Helluva News lauds Shirley Botchwey’s election as Commonwealth Sec Gen

Helluva News, the international Afrocentric online platform publishing in Spanish, has lauded the election of Ghana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Honourable Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, as the incoming Secretary-General of the Commonwealth.

Sixty-one-year-old Botchwey, a former lawmaker who has served as Ghana’s Foreign Minister for the last seven years, was elected recently as the 7th Secretary-General by leaders of the 56 Commonwealth nations who met in Apia, Samoa.

Due to assuming office on April 1, 2025, Botchwey comes across as the second African to be elected Secretary-General of the Commonwealth in its 75-year history, after Chief Emeka Anyaoku of Nigeria, who occupied the position from 1990 to 2000.

A mother of two children, Botchwey is succeeding another lady, the outgoing Commonwealth Secretary-General, Baroness Patricia Scotland. Botchwey holds an Executive MBA (Project Management option), MA in Public Communication, Bachelor of Laws Degree (LLB), a Diploma in Public Relations and Advertising, as well as a certificate in Marketing Management from the following institutions, respectively: the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS), the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ), the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), as well as the Pitman’s Central College and the Universities of London and Westminster in the United Kingdom (UK).

In a statement, publisher of Helluva News, Mr Etcetera Ejikeme, said Botchwey’s records as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration of Ghana since 10th January 2017, indicated that she has led the Council of Ministers of the 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) for two successive terms since July 2020 to the present.

Under her leadership, the Council has advised the Authority of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS on the response to the security situation in the Sahel, including four military takeovers, one attempted coup, and a failed coup; the review of the Supplementary Protocol on Democracy and Governance; the reform of the ECOWAS Commission; and ECOWAS budget reforms to ensure efficiency and more funding for Community Programmes. In that role, she has led the process of negotiations towards transitions to democracy with the military regimes that have seized power in the ECOWAS region since 2020, including as leader of the ECOWAS delegations to Guinea and Burkina Faso and as a member of the ECOWAS Mediation Mission to Mali.

Hon. Botchwey has extensive experience in diplomacy having served as a Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs in the last term of President John Agyekum Kufuor, from 2006-2007 and 2008-2009. She oversaw an extensive transformation in both human resource development and conditions of service for Foreign Service Officers while streamlining and improving consular and passport services both at home and at Ghana’s missions abroad, introducing digitisation and enhanced online services. Ghana’s foreign policy successes under her leadership include the high visibility and positive image Ghana enjoys under the Presidency of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. She led Ghana’s successful campaign for membership in the United Nations Security Council for the term 2022-2023. Foreign Minister Botchwey is a member of Ghana’s National Security Council.

Helluva News added that her election is not only a testament to Africa’s huge human resource base but also to the ability of women to deliver in top policy and decision-making processes.