‘Ghana Navy committed to ensuring maritime safety’
The Ghana Navy has reiterated its commitment to collaborate with other agencies to make the country’s maritime domain safe.
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At this year’s three-day Chief of Naval Staff’s Conference (CNSC) at the Busua Beach Resort in the Ahanta West District in the Western Region, the Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Peter Kofi Faidoo, said the present-day maritime security challenges were diverse and rapidly evolving.
“Therefore, any navy which fails to evolve with time could soon find itself overtaken by events,” he said.
Rear Admiral Faidoo said it was in line with keeping pace with the changing threats that this year’s theme: “Securing Ghana Maritime Domain: A Collaborative effort,” was chosen.
Ghana’s domain
The challenges in the country’s maritime domain, he said, included piracy, maritime terrorism, drug trafficking, trafficking in small arms and light weapons, armed robbery and human trafficking.
He said overcoming the identified threats would be greatly influenced by how effective the Ghana Navy worked with other maritime stakeholders within the country and the sub-region.
“No single entity or country can on its own achieve the desired security of its domain without collaboration and cooperation with relevant partners, allies and stakeholders,” he pointed out.
In such collaborations, he said, the Ghana Navy would step up its efforts to build ties with other maritime stakeholders within the country’s domain.
The stakeholders, he said, included the Marine Unit of the Ghana Police Service, Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority, Petroleum Commission, Ghana National Gas Company (Ghana Gas), West African Gas Pipeline Company, the fishermen, Ghana Maritime Authority and other sub-regional and global actors.
“Ghana’s maritime domain like other littoral countries is broad. It includes all areas and things of, on, under, relating to, adjacent to, or bordering on ocean or other activities, infrastructure, people, cargo vessels and other conveyances,” he said.
Ghana’s domain
For his part, the host of the conference, the Flag Officer Commanding the Western Naval Command, Commodore Osei Kufour, expressed the hope that the deliberations would go a long way to enhance its course of ensuring a safe and just maritime domain for economic development.
The District Coordinating Director of the Ahanta West District Assembly, Mr Ernest Odro, commended the efforts of the stakeholders at ensuring that all players in the country’s maritime domain worked in harmony.