Following the recent piracy attack on a Ghanaian fishing vessel, Marine 711, and the subsequent kidnapping of five sailors who were on board, on the Ghanaian waters, the Deputy Minister for Transport, Daniel Titus-Glover, has charged port officials to tighten security at Ghana’s ports, to avert similar incidents in the future.
Titus-Glover, who is also the Member of Parliament for the Tema East Constituency, was speaking when he visited the Tema Fishing harbor to meet with management and security officials in charge at the facility.
The security agencies present at the engagement were drawn from the GPHA security, Ghana Navy, marine police among others
Titus-Glover said the recent incident came as a surprise to the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) because Ghana has been acclaimed as one of the best ports in terms of security at both Tema and Takoradi.
“Ghana has been acclaimed as one of the best ports in terms of security at both Tema and Takoradi and our waters, so what happened recently was a surprise to all of us”, he noted.
He indicated that as part of measures to halt these piracy attacks on Ghanaian waters, the GPHA will be collaborating with operators at sea to ensure that they abide by safety standards.
“Ghana Navy need to be supported in their patrols, and I think that Ghana Maritime Authority, and the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority, I know in the past is something they have been doing, they support their boat with fuel to ensure they are able to protect our waters for us and all that. Internally, GPHA security will also be engaging the operators at sea with the support of the marine police and the Ghana Navy”, he expressed.
The General Manager of the Tema Fishing Harbour, Kumi Adjei-Sam, said management will intensify the control and regulation of the supply vessels, vessels at anchorage and high seas to curb the menace and make the fishing harbour a safe haven for vessels.
“Certain times by the nature of their work, some of them, they just go in and out of the harbor and our monitoring and control is a bit difficult so, we are going to seriously address that. We also going to intensify the background checks on all the sailors and workers that operate at the fishing harbor, because we believe that, before pirates will operate, they get information from some of them”, he emphasized.
