Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey
The government and people of Trinidad and Tobago have decided to throw their weight behind Ghana’s bid for the Secretary General position of the Commonwealth.
The decision was announced by its Prime Minister, Dr. Keith Christopher Rowley, when he paid a courtesy call on President Akufo-Addo at the Jubilee House (presidency) last Friday.
The visit to the presidency formed part of his visit to the country on the invitation of the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, as a special guest of honour for the 25th anniversary celebration of his ascension to the Golden Stool.
Ghana’s candidate for the Secretary General position is the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey.
Dr. Rowley said the choice to support Madam Ayorkor Botchwey formed part of a number of initiatives put in place by Trinidad and Tobago to strengthen its relationship with Ghana.
He said, “I just want to give you the assurance that Trinidad and Tobago remains a leader in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and so we’ve given you the commitment that we will support fully the candidacy of your foreign minister.”
The Prime Minister explained that even though he did not attend the last CARICOM meeting and did not intend to attend this year’s one as well, he would be travelling to Samoa to campaign for Ghana’s candidacy.
“I did not intend to go to the ones coming up in Samoa but because of our commitment to Ghana, to get your candidate elected as Secretary General I intended to go to campaign for CARICOM in support of Ghana’s candidacy,” he emphasised.
Dr. Rowley also touched on the need for Africans to establish one international body with one voice to press home the demand for reparation from Western nations for their role in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.
On his part, President Akufo-Addo expressed his profound gratitude to Dr. Rowley for the gesture, and noted that Ghana would rely on Trinidad and Tobago to achieve that milestone.
“We know that the voice of Trinidad in the Caribbean goes very far, so it’s an important statement for us that you have made here today and the fact that as a result of that you have decided to go to Samoa, which is a long way away for all of us, is also something very heartwarming and we thank you very much for it,” he stressed.
On the issue of reparation, President Akufo-Addo said the initiative taken by Trinidad and Tobago resonated deeply with that of Ghana in particular and the African Union as a body.
“The AU charged us last year to begin the process of following the example of the Caribbean in beginning to set up institutions to promote movement for reparations. In fact, it gave us here in Ghana the authority to convene an international conference on reparations… I in fact opened that conference in Accra and as a result of it, the AU now has set up a body to do exactly what you are asking to be the focal point for organising the outreach that we have to make together,” he emphasised.
“The people in Addis Ababa, the AU will be very happy to hear this initiative and especially because of the decisions that will be taken this last year or two along the same lines, it is time the Caribbean and those of us on this side of the Atlantic, on the continent come together on this matter, because it’s a common fight and it is a common issue,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo said even though the demand for reparations and the noise surrounding it had been growing, the time had come for a unified voice in that direction.
“I believe what we need now is a really big cacophonous voice that cannot be ignored and that in the end we will force some decisions. There are some important developments that have taken place… we saw the response of King Charles himself and then there has been other European Leaders like Macron and others who have all expressed their commitments and their apologies are coming through… I don’t know how much their apologies are worth but for the sake of the records they are there,” he stressed.
The President said this implied that there was the need for a new form of dynamism, and this would require the important political figures like himself and Dr. Rowley to give the new dynamism a big boost.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondent