Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong, Fui Tsikata declined national honours - Presidential staffer

A presidential staffer, Charles Nii Teiko Tagoe, has disclosed that two members of Ghana's legal team who helped secure Ghana’s western border and its oil deposits at the Special Chamber of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) in 2017, declined national honours. 

Lawyer Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong, a former Attorney General and Lawyer Fui Tsikata declined the awards despite their significant contributions to helping Ghana win a maritime dispute with Cote d'Ivoire.

The two legal practitioners during the President John Mahama Administration led the process to institute the action at the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea (ITLOS).

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However, due to a change of government at the polls in January 2017, Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Gloria Akuffo and her then Deputy, Godfred Yeboah Dame (now Attorney General), picked up the case and secured Ghana’s victory in 2017.

Expressing his disappointment on Facebook, Mr Tagoe disclosed that both legal practitioners turned down the recognition, which was presented to various national icons at an event yesterday in Accra by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

According to him, Lawyer Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong, a former Attorney General and Lawyer Fui Tsikata wrote to decline the awards when they were nominated for their efforts at the ITLOS in helping Ghana win a maritime dispute with Cote d'Ivoire.

He posted: “Lawyer Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong and Lawyer Fui Tsikata wrote to decline the National Honours awards as Members of Ghana’s legal team at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. Sad!"

Read the Facebook post below;