Meet the Commonwealth Secretary-General candidates

Round Table Website Editor Debbie Ransome writes: For the 1,600+ people online, this was our first chance to hear from the three candidates vying for the post of Commonwealth Secretary-General. The 11 September event was a debate, entitled The Future of the Commonwealth, co-hosted by Chatham House, the Commonwealth Foundation and the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA).

The candidates are:

The Hon. Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Ghana;
Joshua Phoho Setipa, a former Minister of Trade and Industry in Lesotho and former Managing Director of the UN Technology Bank for Least Developed Countries;
E. Mamadou Tangara, Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation and Gambians Abroad, Republic of Gambia.

The three were given five minutes to outline their vision for the top Commonwealth executive job, then took questions from the chair, former BBC presenter, Zeinab Bhadawi, before answering questions from the audience at Chatham House and from viewers online.

The three candidates had already answered written questions from the CPA, published in August. Two of them also have websites (see below) outlining their vision, strategy and pitch to become the next Commonwealth Secretary-General when leaders meet in Samoa in October.

The Director General of the Commonwealth Foundation, Anne Gallagher, opened the event by pointing out that this was a “significant moment” for the Commonwealth as it faced a crossroads from its “rich legacy” into a very different world. She said that it was easy to see the Commonwealth as a “relic”, but member countries and the people of the Commonwealth wanted the organisation to work and that the next post holder would play a crucial role in this. She said that the next secretary-general could “shape the Commonwealth into a powerful force”.

The main topics and questions covered the future role of the Commonwealth, the relationships with Commonwealth associated organisations and civic society, the role of CMAG (the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group), the future relevance of the Commonwealth, small islands and climate change, media freedom, slavery reparations, China and the importance of young people in the Commonwealth.

Slavery reparations backed by all candidates vying for Commonwealth boss – Reuters
Candidates to lead Commonwealth urge reparations for slavery and colonialism – The Guardian
The next Commonwealth Secretary-General? – CPA article

Round Table Board emeritus member, Richard Bourne, attended the session and writes:

Sitting behind High Commission staff, and surrounded by a Chatham House audience that included many expert followers of the Commonwealth and others curious to find out what this mysterious, many tentacled creature is all about, one was struck by two realisations. First, that it was amazing to be witnessing, for the first time, a debate between candidates to be Secretary-General of the Commonwealth in advance of the election. Second, that this audience was a minority among the witnesses, for over 1600 people were online, watching Mamadou Tangara of The Gambia, Joshua Setipa of Lesotho, and Shirley Botchwey of Ghana state their claims to succeed Patricia Scotland, to debate, and answer questions.

Anne Gallagher of the Commonwealth Foundation, introducing the occasion, said “Good morning, good afternoon and good evening” to viewers round the world – although we don’t know how many presidents and foreign ministers were among them.

Sonny Ramphal, to whom tributes were paid by the contestants, once remarked that “the Commonwealth has no centre and no periphery” and the internet has now made this come true. Anne (Gallagher of the Commonwealth Foundation) cheekily added that the UN, having to select its next Secretary-General in a couple of years, could usefully follow this example of a public debate. Indeed for UNESCO it was the Commonwealth group of ambassadors in the 1990s that insisted on proper hearings to select a successor to M. M’Bow, the long-serving director-general.

So what transpired? As with too many Commonwealth occasions there was a lot of motherhood and apple pie, talk of improved communication, of utilising soft power via the many international bodies to which member states belong, of working with civil society, and of achieving relevance, especially for the young. Exchanges were not disputatious. In terms of image, Tangara came across as a dispenser of homespun wisdom, Setipa in a pin-striped suit looked a thoughtful technocrat, and Botchway referenced her long experience in foreign affairs, and in making the international machinery work.

More precisely, all three supported financial reparations for slavery, though this morphed into a wider concern for climate justice, given that the majority of Commonwealth states suffer disproportionately from a climate catastrophe they did not cause. The candidates were keen to use the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group more, to defuse crises within and between states, where the S-G’s good offices and quiet diplomacy have got nowhere. They backed freedom of expression, human rights and the rule of law, and saw the continuing importance of the Commonwealth for development and the environment. They were aware of the diminished resources available to its Secretariat, and Setipa, who pointed out that the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Cooperation now has only £7m a year, put this down to a lack of trust by governments.

There were no knockout blows here, and of course Commonwealth leaders and their advisers will have their own national interests to consult in choosing a second African Secretary-General. But the fact that this occasion took place is a credit to the organisers – Chatham House, the international Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and the Commonwealth Foundation. It is bound to be repeated.

View the full debate here: