# Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey

Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey (born 8 February 1963) is a Ghanaian politician, diplomat and lawyer who is the incoming Secretary-General of the Commonwealth of Nations. 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 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. She is a member of the New Patriotic Party.

## Early life and education

Born in Accra, Botchwey had her secondary education at St. Mary's Girls' Senior High School at Korle-Gonno. She is a product of the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS), the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ), Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), the Pitman's Central College, University of London and University of Westminster all in the United Kingdom (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 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 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 of the Commonwealth of Nations at the 2024 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa. Her tenure will begin on 1 April 2025. Being elected as the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth of Nations, Botchwey becomes the first Ghanaian to hold such 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 ECOWAS 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.