Veep launches Maritime Police Unit
The Vice-President, Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, has called on personnel of the Marine Police Unit of the Ghana Police Service to actively collaborate with other security agencies in the discharge of their duties.
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That, he said, would enable them to effectively secure and ensure a peaceful maritime environment for the country and to make the coast and territorial waters unattractive to illegalities.
Speaking at the launch of the Maritime Police Unit at which his wife, Mrs Matilda Amissah-Arthur commissioned six boats into the service at the Takoradi Port, Mr Amissah-Arthur said the country had become a commercial route for shipping lines across the globe.
He said the country’s coast was also a major source of hydrocarbon resources that had attracted the attention of the global oil industries, resulting in their huge investments in both onshore and offshore drilling facilities.
According to him, the oil discovery is also attracting new investors into the region and the country for further prospecting, exploration and development, saying, “these investments must be protected.”
He said aside the offshore oil and gas, the country had rich marine resources which attract fishing trawlers to the country’s waters and that a number of these trawlers operated illegally as a result of inadequate and inappropriate security checks.
He said the contribution of the maritime economy to the national economy in the face of the rising international trade, and the revolution in the oil and gas industry was, therefore, crucial.
The Vice-President said it was important to note that the country had a vast coastline with unco-ordinated and unpatrolled security which had significant maritime security challenges.
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He re-called incidents of armed robbery and theft of hydrocarbon resources on high seas, illegal bunkering, pipeline vandalism, illegal trafficking in arms, drugs and humans, as well as unreported and unregulated fishing in the country’s waters.
Over the past few years after the discovery of oil, he said, the country’s total sea-borne trade had surged dramatically, which greatly affected the economy of the country.
“The crimes committed on the sea and in other water bodies in the country must not go undetected and the government has accepted the challenges that came with the surge and is committed to resourcing the security agencies, enhancing their capacities through training, and providing the needed equipment and facilities to enable them to adequately protect the country’s territorial waters,” he said.
The country’s maritime domain provides means of livelihood in fishing, tourism and transportation for many communities. Therefore “this nation must pay particular attention to maritime security and safety,” the Vice-President said.
The Inspector-General of Police, Mr Mohammed Ahmed Alhassan, observed that the trend and rise in maritime and trans-maritime crimes in contemporary times called for more increasing and compelling role from civil law enforcement authority in the country’s territorial domain.
“Illicit drug and human trafficking, proliferation of small arms and light weapons, industrial radioactive and toxic waste dumping, piracy, as well as frequent boat accidents with attendant loss of lives in the country’s inland waterways have been a challenge to national law enforcement capacities,” he said.
He said the unit would, among others, assist in maintaining law and order in the country’s maritime domain to protect life and property, prevent crime and to support the overall successful operation of the oil and gas industry.
The Director-General in charge of Research and Planning of the Ghana Police Service, Commissioner of Police (COP), Mr David Asante-Apeatu, said the unit would collaborate with other relevant state security agencies to enhance security of the country’s waters.
By Timothy Gobah & Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu