Akufo-Addo picks Mahama’s ambassador as Secretary to Cabinet

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has appointed former Ghana ambassador to Australia under the Mahama regime, Mrs Mercy Yvonne Debrah-Karikari, as Secretary to the Cabinet, effective February 14, 2017. She becomes the first woman in Ghana’s history to hold this position.

Her appointment, which was announced Thursday, is pursuant to Article 76(3) of the Constitution, the President of the Republic.

Ambassador Debrah-Karikari is a career diplomat, and was until her appointment, Ghana’s High Commissioner to Australia, with concurrent accreditation to New Zealand, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and other countries in the Pacific region.

She was appointed High Commissioner by former President John Mahama and commissioned in July 2014 together with 11 other ambassadors and high commissioners.

Career credential

Mrs Debrah-Karikari presented her credentials to Governor – General Sir Peter Cosgrove AK MC (Retd) on 20 August, 2014. She served as Director of Administration at the then Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration.

She had previously worked at the Ghana Permanent Mission to the United Nations Offices in Geneva as Minister and Deputy Permanent Representative from 2007 to 2011.

Prior to that she had served from 2004 to 2007 as the Director of the Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs where she was responsible, among others, for the administration and management of the offices of the Minister and Deputy Minister.

From 2000 to 2002, Mrs. Debrah-Karikari served at the Ghana Embassy in Bonn as Minister-Counsellor and continued at the Ghana Embassy in Berlin from 2002 to 2004 following the relocation of the Embassy to Berlin as a result of the change of the German capital city.

Before serving in Germany, she was Acting Director of the International Organizations and Conferences Bureau at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1998 to 2000, having returned from the Ghana Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York where she had been posted from 1995 to 1998 as Counsellor and Ghana’s delegate on the Second Committee of the United Nations.

Prior to the posting in New York, she had served as the Head of Chancery at the Ghana Embassy in Luanda, Angola from 1994 to 1995. Since joining the Foreign Ministry in 1987, Mrs. Debrah-Karikari has also served in the Africa and Policy Planning Bureaux of the Ministry.

She studied at the University of Ghana from 1988 to 1989 for her Masters degree in International Affairs (LECIA) and at the University of Cape Coast from 1979 to 1984 from where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Diploma in Education.

She had earlier had her secondary education at Wesley Girls High School, Cape Coast from 1971 to 1976 and the Tema Secondary School from 1976 to 1978.

She is married to Dr Paul Debrah-Karikari, a consultant neuroradiologist and her interests include sports, gospel music, movies and charity work.

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