William Azumah Awinador-Kanyirige was a diplomat. He served with the Ghana Foreign Service from July 1987 to May 2018.

He is a product of the University of Ghana with a BA Combined Honours Degree in French and Spanish obtained between 1977-81. He has an International Affairs from the Legon Centre for International Affairs, and an MA in International Relations at Institut International de l” Administration Publique/Ecole National d’Administration/ENA, Paris.

He served as Ghana's Ambassador to Ethiopia from July 2017 to May 2018. He works as a private consultant focusing on research and capacity building in governance strategic planning, diplomacy, peacebuilding, youth mentorship, regional integration, and development.

From September 2014 t6o June 2017, he was the High Commissioner of Ghana to the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Permanent Representative to ECOWAS and well as servicing in various ambassadorial capacities at both the Foreign Ministry and its Diplomatic Missions abroad, namely, Harare, Paris and New York.

He was also a secondment to ECOWAS Commission, Abuja, as Chief of Staff from 2002-2008 as well as a secondment as District Chief Executive in Bolgatanga, Ghana from 1987-1989.

From 1982-to 1985, he worked in the Africa Regional Office of the International Young Christian Students, IYCS, and was also a Member of the Executive Board of the West African Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP), from 2009 to 2014.

He also served on the Bureau of the United Nations Commission on Population and Development in 2011/12 as Vice Chairman, representing Africa. He is a fellow of the Society for Peace Studies and Practitioners (SPSP). Nigeria.

He is also a Patron of the Cardinal Dery Foundation (CDF). And nominated Board Member for the new Board of the Centre for Conflict Transformation and Peace Studies (CECOTAPS). Published Papers:? “The Ghana National Peace Council.”

Policy Brief, Published August 2014, The Global Center for the Responsibility to Protect (GCR2P), Ralph Bunch Institute, City University, New York. National Management of Regional Integration: The case of Ghana, ECOWAS, and the African Union (Chapter 8); In REGIONAL INTEGRATION AND DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA; edited by, Lourdes Benavides de la Vega. COB. CATARATA, 2010.

Barcelona Ambassador Awinador-Kanyirige speaks Grune, Dagbani, Hausa, English, French, Spanish, and a smattering of Twi and Kiswahili. He is married to Mrs. Josephine Adjoa Awinador-Kanyirige and blessed with four children, Petrina, Darkowa, Winborah, and William Tinotenda.

In July 2017, President Nana Akuffo-Addo named William Awinador-Kanyirige as Ghana's ambassador to Ethiopia. He was among twenty-two other distinguished Ghanaians who were named to head various diplomatic Ghanaian missions in the world.

Prior to his appointment he has held numerous diplomatic positions both within and outside of Ghana. (Director, High commissioner, Ambassador.etc.) He was succeeded as ambassador to Ethiopia by Amma Adomaa Twum-Amoah in June 2018.

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