ITLOS Ruling: NDC pays tribute to Atta Mills, Mahama

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has congratulated the governments of Ghana and La Cote d’Ivoire for being patient in seeing to the conclusion of the maritime border dispute. The nation’s largest opposition party said the finality to the issue is victory for pan-African collaboration, diplomacy and international rule of law. But it said many will be losing the point if mention is not made of its late leader, John Evans Atta Mills, and his successor, John Dramani Mahama. “Prof Mills established the permanent Maritime Border Secretariat,” the opposition party said in a statement on Saturday’s ruling by the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS). “He tasked the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, to resource MBS so it could attract and deploy Ghanaian expertise and develop our national strategy for resolving the dispute”. Signed by National Chairman Kofi Portuphy, the statement said of former President Mahama: “We acknowledge President Mahama’s courage in launching the ITLOS case despite concerns that this could be misinterpreted by our neighbours as a hostile act and that Ghana could lose the case at ITLOS”. It revealed that the former president resisted pressure to withdraw the case “and maintained support for the ITLOS process until the judges retired to write their judgements last year”.

The NDC, therefore, underscores its role in the victory that ensures the safety of Ghana’s oil resource. “The NDC is proud to have played a leadership role in securing this legal victory and securing these important resources for the country.” The dispute began in 2014 under an NDC government but early in 2017 Ghana changed legal representatives due to the change in government. Gloria Afia Akuffo replaced Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong as leader of Ghana’s legal team. By Emmanuel Kwame Amoh|editors.3news.com|Ghana Follow @kwame_amoh