The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Ms Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, yesterday returned home to a tumultuous welcome at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) following her successful election as the new Secretary General of the Commonwealth.
It was a moment of great excitement and joy as the plane carrying her and her delegation touched down on the tarmac at about 11.45 am.
The entire VVIP section of the airport erupted into a state of ecstasy when she stepped out of the plane carrying her accompanied by the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
Among the large crowd who thronged the airport to welcome her were representatives of the Ga Mantse, Nii Teiko Tsuru II made up of a retinue of divisional chiefs from Accra, Ministers of State, Members of Parliament, New Patriotic Party (NPP) supporters and family members.
Ms Botchwey contested along two other candidates, Senator Joshua Setipa of Lesotho and Dr Mamadou Tangara of The Gambia in an election held on the side-lines of the 27th Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM 2024) in Apia, Samoa.
Her election marks a ground-breaking achievement not only for Ghana but the whole of Africa as she becomes the first African woman and second African after Chief Emeka Anyaoku Emeka to hold that prestigious position.
Addressing the media, President Akufo-Addo said the election of Ms Botchwey was an honour that required the support and prayers of all Ghanaians.
Ms Botchwey, he said was the first African woman to lead in the history of the organisation, stressing that it’s not going to be an easy task because of where we are in human history, with a lot of difficulties ahead.
“But I have absolutely no doubt that you have the qualities necessary to enable you to succeed as Secretary General of the Commonwealth,” President Akufo-Addo stated.
President Akufo-Addo noted that it was the qualities of competence, hard work, diligence, honesty, and of commitment that drew the massive global support for Ms Botchwey’s candidature for the prestigious office.
He explained that the massive support she received testified to the esteem in which our Foreign Minister of the last nearly eight years is also held.
“She’s done a yeoman’s job for us as Foreign Secretary. Foreign Secretary, Chairperson of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers, and several other important international assignments have been very well delivered by this… I still call her a young lady,” he said.
“Let’s all stand together behind her and push her to do a very good job for our country. She now flies the flag of Ghana on the global stage in a way which has not been done since our late, revered diplomat, Kofi Annan was Secretary General of the United Nations,” he concluded.
Ms Botchwey on her part said she looked forward to working her heart out to make the Commonwealth relevant to its people.
She said she would build on the work which had been done by the amazing staff of the Secretariat and their partners which had made it possible for the Commonwealth to open new chapters in the shared journey towards deepening democracy, peace, prosperity and economic progress.
The Secretary-General elect said the Commonwealth with 56 countries had a combined population of 2.7 billion people, with 60 per cent being young people, with 33 out of the 56 being small island developing states and small states, stressing that “It is diverse and I’m inspired by the resilience of our member states. We come from different nations and cultures, but we share a Commonwealth of values.”
She said her vision was to build on these strengths, promoting trade and ensuring education, skills training development and innovation for the teeming numbers of young people across our Commonwealth.
“I will provide leadership to work with member states in collaboration with other multilateral institutions towards addressing climate change which presents a clear existential threat to our Commonwealth. I shall harness opportunities for transformation and enhance our global voice,” she said.
BY CLIFF EKUFUL
