The Minister for Transport, Joseph Nikpe Bukari, has underscored the urgent need for Ghana to strengthen its legal regime against piracy and other maritime crimes, saying the country must comply with international maritime conventions and be adequately equipped to prosecute offenders operating within its territorial waters.
The Minister made the remarks in Parliament while moving the motion for the second reading of the Maritime and Related Offences Bill, 2026, which was subsequently passed by the House on Tuesday June 30, 2026.
According to him, the legislation would provide Ghana with the legal framework needed to combat piracy, armed robbery at sea, vessel hijackings and other maritime-related offences that continue to threaten maritime trade and security in the Gulf of Guinea.
“As a country, we need to be compliant with the international conventions that we have signed in terms of the maritime sector, and it is our hope that if this House carries this Motion, we will have the legal framework to deal with issues of piracy, armed robbery and hijacking at sea,” Mr. Bukari told Parliament.
Once assented to by the President, the new law will prohibit piracy, armed robbery at sea and related maritime offences while giving effect to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the 1988 Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Maritime Navigation (SUA Convention) and their related protocols.
Presenting the report of Parliament’s Committee on Roads and Transport, Chairman Isaac Adjei Mensah said the legislation establishes a comprehensive legal framework for the prevention, investigation, prosecution and punishment of piracy, armed robbery at sea and other maritime offences.
The committee observed that although Ghana has ratified key international maritime conventions, the absence of a dedicated domestic legal framework had created enforcement and prosecutorial challenges in dealing with piracy and related crimes.
It further noted that the Bill aligns Ghana’s criminal laws with Articles 100 to 105 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, closing long-standing legal gaps that have hindered the prosecution of maritime offenders.
According to the committee, the Gulf of Guinea has witnessed increasing maritime insecurity over the past decade, including piracy, vessel hijackings, kidnappings for ransom, armed robbery at sea and destruction of maritime property. These crimes, it said, continue to threaten maritime trade, regional stability, economic development and the safety of seafarers.
The committee added that the legislation would strengthen Ghana’s ambition of becoming a maritime hub in the Gulf of Guinea by enhancing trade security, reinforcing state port control, boosting investor confidence and empowering security agencies to investigate, arrest and prosecute maritime offenders.
The passage of the Bill comes as Ghana continues to strengthen maritime security following recent incidents within its territorial waters. In February this year, armed sea robbers attacked artisanal fishermen off the coast of Senya Beraku, stealing several outboard motors and leaving dozens of fishermen stranded before they were rescued by the Ghana Navy and Air Force. The incident heightened concerns over the evolving nature of maritime crime along Ghana’s coastline.
A year earlier, suspected pirates boarded the Ghanaian-registered fishing vessel Mengxin 1, underscoring the persistent security risks facing vessels operating within Ghana’s maritime domain despite sustained regional naval cooperation that has significantly reduced piracy across the Gulf of Guinea.
With the passage of the Maritime and Related Offences Bill, 2026, Ghana is expected to significantly strengthen its capacity to investigate, prosecute and punish maritime crimes while fulfilling its international obligations and safeguarding the country’s maritime economy.
By: Christian Kpesese
