The Ghana Boundary Commission has begun an audit of the country’s land boundary with Togo to help avert any major land dispute between the two countries.

The exercise follows complaints received through the various security agencies and local authorities concerning some boundary disputes.

Using boundary pillars as reference in its work, the commission is seeking to ensure that all demarcated lands within the country are protected.

The Ghana–Togo Border stretches over a distance of 1,098 kilometres from the tri-point with Burkina Faso in the north to the Atlantic Ocean in the south.

Significantly, while the land border exercise is taking place, at the same time the two neighbouring countries are engaged in negotiations regarding the delimitation of their shared maritime border.

Border marks

Executives of the commission and the Afadjato South District Assembly, in collaboration with security officials from Togo, last Thursday examined some of the country's border marks at Leklebi.

During the exercise, it was observed that two pillars (51 and 53) had already been affected by natural factors, such as erosion, which threaten to alter the boundary marks.

Collaborate

The National Coordinator of the Ghana Boundary Commission, Brigadier-General Emmanuel Kotia, urged traditional authorities and citizens in communities along the Ghana-Togo border to collaborate with the security agencies to safeguard Ghana's borders.

Speaking at a sensitisation session with the chiefs of the Leklebi Traditional Council, Brig.-Gen. Kotia also advised the people to quickly inform the commission about any defect they found on the border marks, so that it would quickly respond to reconstruct any defective pillar.

He informed the traditional leaders that the auditing of the pillars was still ongoing, and that it would be followed by an additional survey to ensure that the country's borders were protected.

Brig.-Gen. Kotia said the level of cooperation between officials of the commission and those from Togo was impressive and noted that the amicable manner in which disputes were settled along the border was in line with the core functions of the commission.

Education

He indicated that an educational drive would be engineered by the commission to sensitise residents in border communities to how the boundary pillars were to be protected.

"It is important to understand that these boundary pillars have been placed as a marking to determine the boundary between us and our neighbouring countries," he said.

He urged the district assemblies to plant teak along the borders to serve as additional markings at the land boundary.

Challenges
At the meeting, the Leklebi Traditional Council raised concern over the siting of the barrier at Leklebi Kame.

The concern, put forward by the Chief of Leklebi-Kame, Togbe Atakyi V, indicated that the current location of the barricade had cut off Kame-Tonu, a community in the Leklebi Traditional Area.

Source: peacefmonline.com