Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey (born 8 February 1963) is a Ghanaian politician, diplomat and lawyer who has served as the seventh

secretary-general Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, Power (social and political), power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the org ...

of the

Commonwealth of Nations The Commonwealth of Nations, often referred to as the British Commonwealth or simply the Commonwealth, is an International organization, international association of member states of the Commonwealth of Nations, 56 member states, the vast majo ...

since 1 April 2025. At the time of her appointment, she was Ghana's Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration. She was appointed foreign minister by Ghanaian president

Nana Akufo-Addo William Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo ( ; born 29 March 1944) is a Ghanaian politician who served as the 13th president of Ghana from January 2017 to January 2025. He previously served as Attorney General of Ghana, Attorney General from 2001 to 20 ...

on 10 January 2017. Previously, she was a Member of Parliament for Anyaa-Sowutuom from 2013 to 2021 and had served as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and a Minister of State at the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing under

John Kufuor John Kofi Agyekum Kufuor (born 8 December 1938) is a Ghanaian politician who served as the tenth president of Ghana from 2001 to 2009. He was the fifth chairperson of the African Union from 2007 to 2008 and his victory over John Atta Mills at t ...

. She is a member of the

New Patriotic Party The New Patriotic Party (NPP; ) is a Centre-right politics, centre-right and Liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative political party in Ghana. Since the democratisation of Ghana in 1992, it has been one of the two dominant parties in Ghanaian ...

Early life and education

Born in

Accra Accra (; or ''Gaga''; ; Ewe: Gɛ; ) is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , had a population of ...

, Ghana, Botchwey had her secondary education at St. Mary's Girls' Senior High School at

Korle Gonno Korle Gonno is a town in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. The town is known for the Saint Mary's Secondary. The school is a second cycle institution. The Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) is a public teaching hos ...

. She is a product of the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS), the

Ghana Institute of Journalism The University of Media, Arts and Communication- Institute of Journalism (UniMAC-IJ), formerly the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ), is a public university in Ghana. The University is a merger of the erstwhile Ghana Institute of Journalism, the ...

(GIJ), Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), the Pitman's Central College,

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

and

University of Westminster The University of Westminster is a public university, public university based in London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1838 as the Royal Polytechnic Institution, it was the first Polytechnic (United Kingdom), polytechnic to open in London. The Po ...

all in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

(UK). She holds an Executive MBA (Project Management option), MA in Public Communication, Bachelor of Law Degree (LLB), a Diploma in Public Relations and Advertising as well as a certificate in Marketing Management.

Political career

In the

John Agyekum Kufuor John Kofi Agyekum Kufuor (born 8 December 1938) is a Ghanaian politician who served as the tenth president of Ghana from 2001 to 2009. He was the fifth chairperson of the African Union from 2007 to 2008 and his victory over John Atta Mills at t ...

administration which ran between 2001 and 2009, Botchwey served in various portfolios including deputy minister for foreign affairs, deputy minister for information and deputy minister for trade and industries. She was a member of parliament for four terms, first representing Ghana's most populous constituency, Weija, and later, Anyaa/Sowutuom which was carved out of Weija before the 2012 elections. Botchwey chose not to run for a fifth term in Parliament in the 2020 Election. At the party level, she served as spokesperson on foreign affairs between the year 2009 and 2013. During the same period, she was Ranking Member for the Parliamentary Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and later, the Appointments, Defence and Interior Committees of Parliament. A member of the

ECOWAS The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS; also known as CEDEAO in French and Portuguese) is a regional political and economic union of twelve countries of West Africa. Collectively, the present and former members comprise an area ...

Parliament from 2013 – 2017, she worked with her colleagues to assist the Community Parliament in its advisory role in considering matters concerning the region particularly on issues relating to fundamental human rights and freedom, while making recommendations to institutions and organs of ECOWAS. She also served as Vice Chair on the NEPAD & APRM Committees. Before she called time on her sixteen years career as member of parliament, Shirley was a member of the Communications as well as the Gender and Children Committees of Parliament where she worked with colleague members to look into matters relating to communications and examined all gender and children focused issues to ensure their inclusion in all appropriate legislation. On 21 January 2021, she was nominated as the minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration by the president of Ghana, Nana Akuffo-Addo. On 26 October 2024, Botchwey was elected as

Secretary-General Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, Power (social and political), power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the org ...

of the

at the 2024 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

. Her tenure began on 1 April 2025. She is the first

Ghanaian The Ghanaian people are a nation originating in the Gold Coast (region), Ghanaian Gold Coast. Ghanaians predominantly inhabit the Republic of Ghana and are the predominant cultural group and residents of Ghana, numbering 34 million people as of ...

to hold the position.

Business and legal career

Before entering into frontline politics, Botchwey ran a marketing and communications company where she was a consultant for the Ministry of Tourism. She was also the managing director of Dynacom Limited. As a practitioner of public administration, she worked with various organizations such as Worldspace Ghana, the Divestiture Implementation Committee, Glaxo Group Research and Hodge Recruitment. She became a lawyer in October 2023 when she was called to the bar as a barrister and solicitor in Ghana. Botchwey was the Chairperson of

Council of Ministers and the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration of Ghana. She is the incoming Commonwealth Secretary-General

Personal life

Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey is a single mother of two. She is an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

References

External links