Let me, first, welcome you all warmly to the seat of the Presidency of our nation. Your presence here will enable me to perform one of the most pleasant tasks I will perform as President, and, that is to express, on behalf of the Ghanaian people and their government, the gratitude of the nation to the men and women who were entrusted with the responsibility of making sure that the maritime boundary dispute with our immediate, western neighbour, Cote d’Ivoire, ended favourably for Ghana, and, thereby, ensuring that our western maritime resources, including its oil and gas potential, rightfully remained in our possession.
It has been a long and arduous journey, involving many whose determination and commitment have brought us this far. Tonight, to each and every one of you, we say ayekoo. Ghana is indebted to you. You have helped guarantee not only the possibilities of development, progress and prosperity of our country, but also that of successive generations of Ghanaians yet unborn, who will be beneficiaries of the revenues, hopefully, to be accrued from the commercial exploitation of our maritime resources and potentials.
Ladies and gentlemen, this victory could not have been achieved through the actions of one person, one political party or one government. It has been a collective effort, and the important roles played by successive Presidents and governments, should not be overlooked, discounted or understated.
Tonight, I pay tribute to the former President of the Republic, His Excellency Jerry John Rawlings, under whose farsighted leadership, in 1983, the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) was established. GNPC was set up to be a strategic, commercial vehicle to help accelerate the pace for the exploration of oil and gas. The Corporation, under the strong leadership of Tsatsu Tsikata, played a pioneering role in gathering, analysing and interpreting data for oil and gas exploration, and beginning to attract other companies to participate in the exploration.
It was under the leadership of my former boss, the former President of the Republic, His Excellency John Agyekum Kufuor, that GNPC was restructured to ensure that it focused on its core activity of exploration, and the promotion of the oil and gas potential of the country. Under him, the fundamentals of our macroeconomy were stabilised, enhancing our appeal as an investment destination.
A combination of the new fiscal regime and GNPC's promotional activities yielded results, as a number of oil exploration companies invested in Ghana, which led to the discovery in 2007 of the Jubilee Fields, followed by a quick succession of other discoveries, including the TEN fields.
In July 2008, Ghana began preparations for the establishment of the outer limits of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles. The deadline for the submissions was 13th May, 2009, for member states, including Ghana, that had ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) before 1999. If the submission had not been made by that date, Ghana would have lost her maritime territory beyond the 200 nautical miles.
The then Minister for Lands, Forestry and Mines, Prof. Dominic Fobih, appointed a Committee to formulate appropriate proposals which would enable Ghana to assess the chances of a continental shelf beyond the 200 nautical miles resulting in the first meeting with Cote d’Ivoire over the boundary. The unique role of Prof. Dominic Fobih is the fact that he discovered and brought to the attention of President Kufuor’s administration, the conditionality of the UN approaching deadline of 13th May, 2009.
In 2010, the late President of the Republic, His Excellency John Evans Atta-Mills, set up a 10-member Ghana Boundary Commission to undertake negotiations to delimit the maritime boundary.
The Ministers of his government, Foreign Minister Mohammed Mumuni, Attorney General Betty Mould Iddrisu, Lands and Natural Resources Minister Collins Dauda, and Barbara Asamoah, the then Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, all played various roles in those negotiations. It was in 2011 when the activities of our Ivorian neighbours led to the sequence of events that, ultimately, saw us seize the jurisdiction of the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea (ITLOS).
It was in 2014 that my immediate predecessor, His Excellency John Dramani Mahama, took the courageous decision to initiate arbitration. Through a Notification and a Statement of the claim, dated 19th September, 2014, Ghana invoked the jurisdiction of ITLOS, after ten rounds of negotiations between Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire had not yielded any result. In turning to the Tribunal, Ghana’s primary objective and interest was to secure legal certainty, and, thereby, bring finality to a dispute with a valued neighbour.
The legal team, tasked by former President Mahama, to litigate the matter was headed by the then Attorney General Marietta Brew Oppong, and included such as Solicitor-General Helen Awo Ziwu, Fui Tsikata, Jane Aheto, Vivienne Gadzekpo, Pearl Akiwumi Siriboe, Azara Prempeh, Adwoa Wiafe, Godwin Djokoto, Anita Lokko, former Solicitor-General Ama Gaisie, Solomon Korbieh, Sylvia Adusu, Korshie Gavor, Patmos Addae, Roselyn Addai, Nabeela Wahab, Dr. Kofi Mbiah, Etta Mensah, and Zeinab Ayariga. They were aided by well-known international maritime lawyers - Phillippe Sands, Daniel Alexander, Clara Beillembourg, Pierre Klein, Alison Macdonald, Paul Reichler, Anjolie Singh, Nicholas Renzler and Alejandra Torres Camprubi. The lawyers were ably supported by a bevy of competent geologists, surveyors, maritime boundary experts, amongst others, led by Dr. Lawrence Apaalse.
Upon my assumption of office in January 2017, and to continue from the work that had been done, I constituted a legal team, headed by the new Attorney General Gloria Afua Akuffo, whose membership comprised Deputy Attorney General Godfred Dame, H. Kwesi Prempeh, Anthony Akoto Ampaw and Peninnah Asah Danquah.
I insisted on this team working together with the team led by the former Attorney General, Marietta Brew Oppong, and the foreign lawyers. It was the co-operative effort of all of them that secured the famous result of 23rd September, 2017, for our country. And, I am glad to see that several of the foreign lawyers have been able to join us for this brief ceremony. Happily for me, it has been during my presidency that Ghana received the joyful news of this victory.
Ladies and gentlemen, the judgment of the Tribunal has brought finality to a maritime boundary dispute that had been extant for over five decades. Although the precise economic impact is yet to be assessed following the delimitation of the boundary by the Tribunal, it is clear that, in net terms, Ghana will gain, not suffer, any loss of territory.
Indeed, many were those who feared that the outcome of the judgement could strain the friendship that exists between Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire. On the contrary, it appears to have rather strengthened the bonds of co-operation. When the verdict of the litigation was read on 23rd September, 2017, the two countries, in a joint statement, declared that they were going to work in a healthy manner of co-operation to deal with the consequences of the judgement, which both sides openly accepted.
Again, the presence in Ghana, two days ago, from Monday, 16th, to Tuesday, 17th October, 2017, of the President of the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire, His Excellency Alassane Ouattara, at the head of an impressive delegation, has underlined that, for our two countries, the paramount concern must be the peaceful exploitation of our maritime resources for the benefit of our two populations. A joint implementation committee to oversee the orderly execution of the judgement has been established for this purpose.
In conclusion, ladies and gentlemen, let me express, again, the gratitude of our nation to all of you, and I am sure that, at the appropriate time, national honours will be duly conferred.
Thank you all, and may God bless our homeland Ghana, and make her great and strong.
