Ghana's maritime victory must benefit residents of Cape Three Points village – Nduom

Founder and 2016 Flagbearer of the Progressive People's Party, Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom has said that Ghana’s win over Ivory Coast in the long-drawn maritime dispute should not merely be about talk but should significantly impact on the lives of the ordinary Ghanaian particularly persons residing in the Cape Three Points village in the Western part of the country.

According to him, residents in areas where minerals and or natural resources have been discovered in the past have been neglected and the resources focused on other areas till it’s all depleted and the people are left with no trace of development.

“This ruling, we must make sure that it goes to develop the people in that area first then the rest of us can then benefit, that’s how it’s supposed to be”.

“What I’m hoping is that government will focus on the oil production area, not just the whole country because we want to fund education, we go to oil, we want to fund this, we go to oil but we forget that there are human beings in that area and that we shouldn’t let it become like Obuasi or Akwatia or wherever else where we’ve gone, taken the natural resources, said to everybody, it belongs to all of Ghana, then when there’s a difficulty or it runs out or whatever, we leave chaos for them”, he said.

Speaking to GhanaWeb.com, Dr. Nduom emphasized the importance of the ruling to the growth of Ghana’s economy.

He noted that, “It is absolutely important because if it had gone the other way, we would be in huge difficulty because we are now relying so heavily on oil revenue. If you noticed in the past few months, activities on that side of the country had gone down considerably and investment levels had also gone down, so this is good for the country, it’s good for the area”.

Background

The long standing maritime dispute between Ghana and Cote D’lvoire came to what appears to be a closure on Saturday, September 23, 2017, after ITLOS ruled largely in favour of Ghana.

The Chamber ruled that there has not been any violation on the part of Ghana on Côte d’Ivoire’s maritime boundary.



It further rejected Côte D’Ivoire’s argument that Ghana’s coastal lines were unstable, adding that Ghana had not violated Côte d’Ivoire’s sovereign rights with its oil exploration in the disputed basin in question.