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The Ghana Navy has lauded the late President John Evans Atta Mills for his commitment to the Navy and other security forces after it received two additional ships to protect the country’s territorial waters on Monday.

At a ceremony to receive the warrior class ships, the Chief of Naval Staff Rear Admiral Matthew Quarshie said the late President appreciated the importance of equipping the Navy in particular to protect the country’s maritime domain considering the challenges posed by the oil exploration activities.

The two ships, GNS Naa Gbewaa and GNS Yaa Asantewaa acquired solely by Government, arrived at the Sekondi Naval Base on Monday after sailing for 28 days from Wilmersher in Germany.

The 84 crew members who had been in Germany to undergo three months training before sailing, made stopovers in Spain, France, Portugal, Liberia and Senegal before berthing to a rousing welcome by naval officers and family members.

In October last year, the Ghana Navy received four newly constructed ships from China to augment their fleet. Another fast patrol boat christened GNS Stephen Otu was later added to the fleet, bringing the fleet to 15.

Addressing the ceremony to receive the warrior class ships, the Chief of Naval Staff Rear Admiral Matthew Quarshie lauded the crew members for sailing the vessels to Ghana safely and urged them to give off their best in their line of duties when the vessels are commissioned to be operational next month.

Rear Admiral Quarshie paid a glowing tribute to the late President Professor Atta Mills who according to him, had done so much for the Navy in three years before his demise.

"We released that our ships that we had before were quite old and that we needed to augment them and bring in new tooling for us to maintain our maritime free of all the trouble we have such as piracy, sea robbery, poaching and the rest. I will say that our late President was a visionary. He was a very practical politician. Without security all the development we talk about particularly with the oil will come to nothing. He realized this and decided it’s about time we retool the Ghana Armed Forces. Within a spate of three years he has done so much. The Navy is only one example. The Airforce and the Army also benefited” he noted.

Rear Admiral Quarshie says although the ships are not new, they can stand the test of time once they are properly maintained.

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