The 56-nation Commonwealth has announced Ghana’s Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey as its new Secretary-General at a contentious summit in Samoa on Saturday.
Former British colonies make up the majority of the Commonwealth, a voluntary association of sovereign states.
Botchwey, 61, was one of three candidates running for the post, and all of them supported calls for Britain to confront and address its legacy of colonialism and slavery.
She is Ghana’s former Foreign Minister, serving from 2017 to 2023, notably steering Ghana’s two-year tenure on the UN Security Council.
She backed the drafting of a free trade agreement among Commonwealth member states and supports reparations.
“Financial reparations is good,” she said at an event in London earlier this year.
A Commonwealth Secretary-General can serve a maximum of two terms of four years each.
The incumbent is Dominican Baroness Patricia Scotland.
By convention, the secretary general role is rotated around the body’s four geographical blocs: the Pacific, Asia, Europe, and Africa. It is now Africa’s turn.
She posted on social media: “Truly humbled by the overwhelming support of the Commonwealth Heads of Government in selecting me as the incoming Secretary-General of the Commonwealth.
“The work indeed lies ahead!”
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