The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, has called for a collective effort to effectively and efficiently manage the country’s land borders.
Speaking on the floor of Parliament on Wednesday to commemorate the 13th African Border Day, Mr Jinapor emphasised the relevance of land borders to the socio-economic development of every nation and called for effective coordination of boundaries to avert potential litigations.
“Let us continue to work towards effective and efficient border management, and not make our borders barriers that divide us, but bridges that connect us and promote peace, security, and development for our nations and our continent,” he said.
The Minister said, “an efficient and effective border management is sine qua non to our noble and historic quest to provide a secured continent to enable us unleash prosperity for the long-suffering peoples of Africa.”
The borders of every society, he said, played an important role in its cultural, traditional and political heritage, saying; “Boundary issues will remain key to our security, and peaceful coexistence.”
Giving a brief background on the reason for the celebration of the day, Mr Jinapor said the African Border Day was adopted by African Ministers in charge of Border Issues, at their second Meeting held in 2010, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to promote the importance of the African Union Border Programme (AUBP) to peace, regional, and continental integration.
The Day, he said, was also used to celebrate the progress Africa had made, individually as Member States of the African Union, and collectively as a continent, in securing and managing boundaries of the various countries, and to forge a common path for dealing with the challenges that still lie ahead.
The Minister opined that this year’s African Border Day celebration was a very significant one as it called on all of Africa to reflect on the importance of the borders to national and regional security, stability, and sustainable development.
The Minister also noted that boundaries were not just physical barriers that separate countries; but they were complex systems that required effective management, coordination, and cooperation among all stakeholders.
“As a continent, our efforts at promoting peace, stability, and prosperity along borders, continue to be hindered by several challenges, such as transnational organised crime, terrorism, violent extremism, smuggling and irregular migration.”
“It was to deal with these challenges, accelerate work on cross-border cooperation and peaceful resolution of border disputes, as well as promote efficient and effective integrated border management, that the African Union Convention on Cross-Border Cooperation (also known as the Niamey Convention), was adopted in 2014,” Mr Jinapor said.
The Land Minister, therefore, appreciated the efforts of the Members of Parliament for their cooperation which saw the swift ratification of the African Union Convention on Cross-Border Cooperation in the First Meeting of the Third Session of this Parliament.
He thanked all the security services that have been involved in the exercise.
“As we commemorate this day, let us renew our commitment to working together to overcome the challenges confronting our borders. Let us promote greater cooperation among our countries, regional organisations, and international partners to ensure that our borders are secure, stable, and conducive for the prosperity of the African peoples,” he added.
Mr Jinapor highly commended the Ghana Boundary Commission, under the leadership of its tenacious Coordinator, Major General Emmanuel W. Kotia, for the hard work they are doing to secure, demarcate and delimit the international boundaries in accordance with the Ghana Boundary Commission Act, 2010 (Act 795).
