Kofi Ampeah Woode
Two (2) 27-metre Fast Patrol Boats (Boundary Class), two 12-metre Defender Class Boats (CNS Class), and one 11.5-metre locally manufactured Landing Craft, have been commissioned into the Ghana Navy (GN) Fleet, alongside an Oil Spill Response Vessel (OSRV) for the Ghana Maritime Authority.
At the Sekondi Naval Base of GN’s Western Naval Command (WNC), on Saturday 9 September, 2023, the Commander-In-Chief (C-In-C) of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), and the President of the Republic of Ghana – His Excellency (HE) Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, inaugurated the six vessels with the names GHANA NAVY SHIP (GNS) HALF ASSINI and AFLAO for the Boundary Class, GNS PETER FAIDOO and GNS SETH AMOAMA for the CNS Class, and NAVDOCK 1 for the landing craft.
The C-In-C in an address, applauded GN Engineers at the GN Shipyard, led by Commodore (Cdre) Wayoe, who built Ghana’s first indigenous landing craft – NAVDOC 1, which is designed to carry 30 personnel and 1 ton of cargo, and described the effort as embodying the ingenuity, determination and can-do spirit of the Ghanaian people.
The vessels, which are products of cooperation between the governments of Ghana and the United States of America (USA), has the Defence Class being 2 brand new fast intervention boats donated as part of the USA’s support to the GN Special Boat Squadron (SBS), while the other 2 Boundary Class vessels had been deployed in coast guard duties, before their refurbishment, retooling and transfer to GN, at a cost of USD2 Million each.
There is currently a 5-year USA-Denmark-Ghana tri-lateral agreement, which targets to make the GN SBS a Tier-1 Special Operations Force by the year 2026.
The C-In-C described the vessels acquisition, as yet a further manifestation of the commitment of Ghana’s government to retool and reequip the GAF, to enable them perform their duties of protecting the territorial integrity of Ghana.
He furthered that the acquisition of Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs), Fast Patrol Vessels (FPVs) and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), amongst others, have been on the drawing board for some time, and assured that, despite the financial difficulties, his government is committed to seeing them through.
The President affirmed ongoing efforts by the Ghana Boundary Commission (GhBC) to delimit Ghana’s eastern borders with Togo, and emphasized the need to maintain significant naval presence at sea, so as to prevent criminals from exploiting contested areas, thus informing that the Boundary Class Vessels will patrol Ghana’s maritime boundaries from east to west.
HE Akufo-Addo extolled the collaboration between GN and the Ghana Maritime Authority; who, although operate under different Ministries, had collaborated to acquire and operate the OSRV for oil spill responses. He thus, encouraged all stakeholders in the maritime sector, to synergize their efforts, as directed by Ghana’s National Integrated Maritime Strategy (NIMS).
Ghana’s Defence Minister and Member of Parliament for Bimbilla – Mr Dominic Aduna Bingab Nitiwul, hinted of the commissioning yet again, by the end of 2023, of a set of equipment, including Multiple Launchers Rocket System for the Ghana Army, to boost efforts in making the country safe and secured for investments and development.
He added that Ghana Army and GN have seen an increase in their equipment and fleet sizes, and that similar efforts were underway to equip the Ghana Air Force also, stressing that there cannot be development without security, hence, as long as a nation aspires for development, security should be a top priority.
The US Ambassador to Ghana – HE Virginia Palmer said, since April 2020, the US Embassy in Accra has worked with the US and Ghana Navy, along with Ghana’s Ministries of Defence and Finance, to get the ships to Ghana.
She said the US and Ghana Navies have had trials in Ghana waters with the ships, and hoped that the ships would be put to immediate use to ensure the security and prosperity of Ghana’s territorial waters, adding that the donations are a visible symbol of the partnership between Ghana and the USA.
She said, in addition to recent commissioning of a USD 6 million facility at Nutekpor for use by the Ghana Navy, the US is providing USD 24 Million over 5 years to help the Ministry of Fisheries install electronic and monitoring systems controller, and work to designate maritime protected areas, to protect fragile ecosystems and species under water.
She continued to say that the boats are the latest in her country’s long standing support for the GN, including training, technical assistance and naval infrastructural projects, and hoped that they would increase sea patrols, and contribute to the security of the entire Gulf of Guinea (GoG) region, denying pirates and kidnappers the use of the sea for their activities.
GAF’s Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS) – Rear Admiral (R/Adm) Issah Adam Yakubu, in a welcome speech said, the prototype of the landing craft, is a pilot project initiated by GAF’s Chief of the Defence (CDS) – Vice Admiral (V/Adm) Seth Amoama, when he was CNS, to kick-start the manufacture of boats locally, and to enable the Navy support the Army in their amphibious operations, to land them on any beach, where they want to go and operate.
Nine (9) vessels have been commissioned for the GN, in less than 2 years, and the CNS said its impact of availability of ships to the Ghana Navy, prior to the commissioning of the 4 OPVs in 2022, was barely able to maintain a cumulative presence at sea for 1000 hours a year.
However, as at the end of August 2023, GN has chalked a cumulative presence of over 15000 hours at sea, and is set to reach a record of 20000 hours at sea by the end of the year, resulting in piracy and other maritime crimes going down drastically in Ghanaian waters.
Reporting on the construction of a Forward Operating Base (FOB) currently ongoing at Ezinlibu in the Jomoro District of the Western Region of Ghana, Admiral Yakubu said works are at about 50%, with the final delivery to feature the only Naval Harbour GN has possessed, since the construction of the one built in the early 1960s in Sekondi.
The FOB will also have accommodation for over one thousand (1000) troops, boats, surveillance systems, and other ancillary equipment, which would probably make it the single largest Defence project in the history of Ghana.
Justifying huge national investments in naval assets and activities, Admiral Yakubu asserted that, one of the outcomes of the 2023 International Maritime Defence Exhibitions and Conference (IMDEC ‘23), was the identification of maritime security as inseparable from the sea/blue economy, which amounts globally to about USD 2 Trillion annually, with Ghana’s share being about 2 Billion USD.
He surmised that Ghana and Africa, stand to reap the benefits of a secure maritime domain devoid of criminal activities, if governments in the GoG Region were to commit to programs to secure the region’s maritime domain.
Dignitaries present included the Ministers for Interior and MP for Nandom, Transport, Deputy Minister for Energy and MP for Sekondi, National Security Advisor, CDS – V/Adm S Amoama, Chief of the Air Staff – Air Vice Marshal Frederick Kwasi Bekoe, Major General (Maj Gen) Michael Amoah Ayisi for the Army Commander, Maj Gen Alan Dorman of the North Dakota National Guard, Flag Officer Commanding the Western Naval Command – Cdre Emmanuel Ayesu Kwafo, Nana Nketsia IV – Paramount Chief of Essikado, Senior Military Officers from the United States and Ghana.
By Kofi Ampeah-Woode
