Transport Minister calls for collaboration against piracy upon election as MOWCA Chairman
Ghana’s Minister for Transport, Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, has called for collaboration among member states of the Maritime Organisation for West and Central Africa (MOWCA) to curb piracy in the Gulf of Guinea.
Making the call during an interview on Eye on Port, the Transport Minister averred member states have the responsibility to ensure that piracy on the Gulf of Guinea is checked as it has contributed to making shipping on the Gulf very expensive.
“West Africa’s waters have become very unsecured because of the many piracy attacks and so as member states we have a responsibility to ensure that is checked because it has made shipping on the Gulf very expensive in terms of shipping costs in the world,” stated the Transport Minister.
“So we need to work together and get member states to understand the need for us all to come together and fight piracy, ensure that in terms of technology we are up there because without technology we can’t do anything.”
“The way the Gulf is today, no one county can manage the situation, hence the need to deepen our collaboration to the extent that our efforts and systems can be synchronized,” the Minister added.
Piracy attacks on the Gulf in recent times have become rampant, with experts in the maritime industry calling on governments in the West African region to invest enough into the acquisition of maritime security logistics and adoption of uniform procedures in the fight against piracy, which is bedevilling the Gulf.
Two Ghanaian vessels on the back of the ongoing piracy attacks have been sieged.
The first piracy attack occurred on May 19, 2021, where 5 expatriates were kidnapped after pirates hijacked a Ghanaian-registered tuna vessel on Atlantic Princess approximately 66NM South of Tema, Ghana.
The second incident occurred on May 31, 2021, in which four Koreans and a Filipino were abducted from a Ghanaian registered fishing vessel in the Gulf of Guinea, Benin waters to be specific.
Maritime experts such as Captain Micah, Harbour Master of the Tema Port, has noted that strict adherence to the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code by ports and vessels will help check the growing menace of piracy on Ghanaian vessels.
The International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code is an amendment to the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Convention (1974/1988) on Maritime security including minimum security arrangements for ships and ports.
It prescribes responsibilities to governments, shipping companies, shipboard personnel, and port/facility personnel to detect security threats and take preventive measures against security incidents affecting ships or port facilities used in international trade.
According to Captain Micah, the ISPS code stands tall as a way of nipping piracy in the bud.
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The Maritime Organisation for the West and Central Africa (MOWCA) was established in May 1975 (Charter of Abidjan) as the Ministerial Conference of West and Central African States on Maritime Transport (MINCONMAR). The name was changed to MOWCA as part of reforms adopted by the General Assembly of Ministers of Transport, at an extraordinary session of the Organisation held in Abidjan in the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire in 1999.
The objective of MOWCA is to serve the regional and international community for handling all maritime matters that are regional in character.
MOWCA unifies 25 countries on the West and Central African shipping range (inclusive of five landlocked countries).
These countries comprise 20 coastal states bordering the North and South Atlantic Ocean, and to explain the maritime link for landlocked countries the ports of the Ocean interfacing countries provide the seaborne trade of those that are landlocked.
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