ITLOS Judgement: CDG Calls For Well-Resource Maritime Border Secretariat

Coalition for Democratic Governance (CDG) has called on Government to as a matter of urgency resource and empower the permanent Maritime Border Secretariat (MBS), established by the late President Prof Attah Mills to unreservedly ascertain our maritime boundary with Togo and also the land boundary with Burkina Faso.

The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has made similar calls on Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) to resource the Maritime Border Secretariat (MBS) so it could attract and deploy Ghanaian experts and develop our national strategy for resolving the dispute.

This comes on the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea’s judgment in favour of Ghana in the maritime dispute with Cote D’Ivoire on Saturday September 23^rd 2017 read by the President of the Special Chamber, Judge Boualrm Bouguetaia rejected Cote D’Ivoire’s argument that Ghana’s coastal lines were unstable and also ruled that Ghana has not violated Cote D’Ivoire’s sovereign rights with its oil exploration activities.

In a statement signed by the Chief Convener for the Coalition, Dr. Kofi Hayford said the Coalition has learnt with pleasure that from the preliminary plotting of the new boundary, starting from the new coastal point established by the court, there is a slight deviation into the east up to where the Tano field is.

“It then follows Ghana’s customary boundary line southwards, through to the 200 nm point and beyond, thus preserving the TEIN and Hess fields. Apart from the expected boom for investments in the oil industry, the net gain to Ghana from the coast to the outer continental shelf is about 80.5 sq. km,” he stated.

According to him, his outfit considers this resounding victory as a clear manifestation that Ghana can surmount its complex problems of socioeconomic development if all our technical and professional expertise is harnessed in a non- partisan spirit hence, the need to resource MBS.

He noted that the Coalition also expresses its appreciation to the current government for not choosing the path of least resistance, by discontinuing the case but sought the collaboration of the former Attorney General Mrs. Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong alongside the current Attorney General Ms. Gloria Akufo.

Dr. Hayford added that whilst enjoying the positive outcome of this verdict, we should also ponder on the risk factor born by “incompetent” ex-President John Dramani Mahama.

“He sustained the intractable bilateral negotiations with Cote d’Ivoire and after years of stalemate opted out to pursue the maritime boundary conflict at the ITLOS. If the outcome had been negative, there would have been by now a sea of criticism and condemnation of ex-President Mahama, at best, attributable to his youthful exuberance,” he posited.

The Chief Convener emphasized that it is heartening to note that, in the spirit of good neighbourliness and Pan Africanism, Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire have jointly agreed to abide by the decision of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) as contained in their joint communiqué.