Her Excellency (H.E.) Ambassador Amma Twum-Amoah, a stalwart diplomat from Ghana, has been elected as the new African Union (AU) Commissioner for Social Development, Health, and Humanitarian Affairs during the 46th ordinary session of the AU Executive Council in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on February 12.
She was elected as the most qualified candidate for the new role because of her comprehensive understanding of the challenges facing the continent. As AU’s Commissioner for Social Development, Health, and Humanitarian Affairs, Ambassador Twum-Amoah is expected to create and execute policies and initiatives with the goal of advancing social justice, human rights, and the well-being of all Africans.
She will collaborate closely with international partners, civil society organizations, and African governments to tackle urgent problems like healthcare access, poverty, and inequality.
She will also be essential in organizing the AU’s reaction to pandemics, natural catastrophes, and conflicts. In order to help member states respond to and recover from crises, she will gather resources, form alliances, and provide support.
Ambassador Twum-Amoah has represented Ghana’s foreign affairs department in a number of leadership positions and is currently Ghana’s Ambassador to Ethiopia and Permanent Representative to the African Union. On November 17, 2012, she was appointed Minister/Head of Chancery of Ghana’s Embassy in Washington, D.C., in the United States.
Prior to this, Ambassador Twum-Amoah held significant positions in Ghana’s public service and politics. She served as the Ghana High Commission’s Minister-Counsellor and acting High Commissioner in Canberra, Australia, from October 2005 until February 2006.
When she worked there, she led a team of four officers that reopened Ghana’s High Commission in Canberra. She also represented the Ghanaian government there until March 2006, when His Excellency Mr. Kofi Sekyiamah, a substantive High Commissioner, arrived.
From October 2004 to October 2005, she served as the Deputy Director of the Policy Planning and Research Bureau at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Accra. Among other things, she handled requests for agreements for new envoys to Ghana until September 2002 to March 2003, when she was appointed acting director of the Ministry.
She was the Head of Chancery and Counsellor for Ghana’s Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva, Switzerland, from September 2000 to August 2002. Ambassador Twum-Amoah was part of the Ghanaian delegation that presented a report on discrimination against human rights in Geneva.
She was a member of the team that presented the findings from the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS’s 9th Meeting of the Programme Coordinating Board in Geneva in May 2000.
Oral Ofori is Founder and Publisher at www.TheAfricanDream.net, a digital storyteller and producer, and also an information and research consultant.
