A US$60,000 gap between two official accounts of the same set of penalties is at the centre of fresh questions put to the Ghana Maritime Authority by the Member of Parliament for Akuapem North, Hon. Sammi Awuku.
In a statement issued on his Facebook page, the MP said GMA’s own inspection report on the vessel MV Sankofa placed pollution-related penalties at US$139,200.
The Authority’s response to a Right to Information request, dated 12 June 2026, gave the figure as US$79,200. The difference, he said, has not been explained.
The discrepancy sits alongside a larger question.
According to the statement, GMA initially imposed the statutory penalty of US$1 million in its cedi equivalent on the vessel, then waived it, explaining that a later inspection found no evidence MV Sankofa had been trading in Ghana.
The MP said the vessel was intercepted by the Ghana Navy off Axim on 22 July 2025 with its Automatic Identification System switched off.
A GMA inspection report dated 27 July 2025 found fourteen statutory certificates missing, along with the absence of an oil record book, a garbage record book and a sewage holding tank.
São Tomé and Príncipe, whose flag the vessel purported to fly, denied ever registering it. The Authority concluded the vessel was not seaworthy.
Hon. Awuku said the trading question is not the only one that matters, and that the records should show the legal basis on which the vessel entered Tema Fishing Harbour, moved to Tema Anchorage, operated in Ghanaian waters and was eventually cleared to leave.
He said he would write to the Minister for Transport, Hon. Joseph Bukari Nikpe, and to the GMA Governing Board, requesting the legal opinion or Board decision supporting the waiver and a full reconciliation of the pollution-related penalties.
The vessel left Ghana on 14 November 2025, reportedly under Cameroonian registration, and was later detained in Senegal in connection with a drug investigation, reportedly flying the Ghanaian flag, the statement said.
“The public is entitled to clear answers,” the MP wrote.
