Ghana’s New Diplomat for Georgia Officially Installed 

Ghana’s ambassador to the United States this week officially installed the country’s new honorary consul in Georgia, giving the West African nation a long-awaited diplomatic presence in the state. 

Yvonne Horsley McCowin, a real estate professional with VistaRay USA, traveled to Washington to meet with Ambassador Hajia Alima Mahama and to bring home a placard bearing the seal of the new consulate. 

But Ms. McCowin, who’d already been approved by both governments, was active in the community before this official recognition, making her presence felt at local events and hosting embassy personnel at her office to collect biometrics from some 50 community members for passport renewals. 

For Ms. McCowin, who was raised in Ghana until middle school, becoming a diplomat is a full-circle moment. Her family emigrated to the United States in 1979 when her father, a diplomat, became information minister in Ghana’s embassy in Washington. The family lived in Rockville, Md., just outside D.C.,and she eventually stayed behind with family friends to finish high school when the family returned to Ghana. 

She largely settled into American life, working at a trade association and then moving to Atlanta in 2009. 

“I got lost a little bit — once you have your family and you’re established in the United States, you kind of blend,” Ms. McCowin told Global Atlanta. 

Eventually, she realized, “I miss my folks.” 

“Once I saw there was a small window of opportunity to get back, that’s what I did,” she told Global Atlanta of her engagement with the Ghanaian community. 

Leadership positions opened up in community organizations like the Ghana Council of Georgia, where she served two terms as president. She also became politically active, serving as general secretary of the Ghana New Patriotic Party’s Atlanta chapter. 

The consular role will be her next act in community service, she said, focusing heavily on public diplomacy, including promoting Ghana as a tourism and investment destination.

In 2019, Ghana hosted its Year of Return program, marking the 400th anniversary of slaves being transported to the Americas and targeting African American visitors interested in exploring their ancestry. Accra, meanwhile, was dubbed the “capital of cool” and an essential place to visit in 2023 by the New York Times.

Atlanta, as a hub for middle-class and wealthy Black Americans, has been a key target for the country, though the city now lacks the nonstop Delta Air Lines flight that it had just over a decade ago. 

“Hopefully we can do some good trading between our two countries, especially with Georgia,” Ms. McCowin said. 

She added that the honorary consulate won’t yet be tasked with consular duties like passport issuance and renewal or visa approvals, which will remain with the embassy. The consulate will be housed within her office at VistaRay unless it becomes evident that a larger space is needed. 

Ghanaians go to the polls to elect a new president and parliament Dec. 7, with the NPP aiming to retain its leadership position. John Dramani Mahama, a one-term president defeated in 2016, is running in the opposition role against current President Nana Akufo-Addo’s chosen NPP successor, Mahamadu Bawumia. 

Mr. Mahama visited Atlanta in 2013 to meet with Delta Air Lines and give a lecture at Kennesaw State University, which was wrapping up a year of programming focused on Ghana, about the country as a model for African democratic development and governance. Read more: At Kennesaw, Ghana President Welcomes U.S. Investors

The idea of having an honorary consulate in Atlanta had broached by Ghanaian diplomats as early as 2015, as Global Atlanta reported at the time. 

Ms. McCowin said the latest recruitment process began under Mr. Mahama’s administration, which ended in 2017, and was confirmed finally this week.  

She is one of three African countries having recently installed diplomats in Atlanta. Zambia appointed an honorary consul in November, while Botswana tapped DLA Piper attorney Naana Frimpong as its honorary consul in Georgia earlier this year.