That the agenda of some of the members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to derail this new government and make sure it stays and remains out of focus can now be confirmed. From the day Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was declared President-elect to date, some in the opposition have served notice that they will make sure he stays out of focus.
Unnecessary attacks of his capability to fulfil his campaign promises; attacks on his inaugural speech; bribery allegations against one of his ministers, and even allegations that he plagiarised H.E. J.E. A. Mills’ first State of the Nation Address (SONA) speech on the state of Ghana’s economy, were charges against him. Then came his March 6, Independence Day address, and among other attacks, an NDC guru, Koku Anyidoho, claimed that the President sparked off secession moves by some aggrieved Ewes.
This was after the arrest of some Ewes who were alleged to have committed treason, when their group, Homeland Study Group Foundation (HSGF), was found to be spreading separatist agenda and luring people, mainly in parts of the Volta Region, to declare independence from Ghana on May 9, 2017.
Security reports coming in from the Volta Region claimed that some key political elements were behind the HSGF, and lo and behold, the NDC Koku Anyidoho came out in support of the separatists, ridiculously adding that it was due to the number of times President Nana Akufo-Addo mentioned J.B. Danquah’s name in his independence day speech, that led to such a movement in the Volta Region.
If Koku is not linked with such a group, then how come he is up to its defense and insisting that even though it called for a separate nation, it was only doing so to draw attention to the world on how the members contributed to Ghana’s development? Which contribution are we talking about here?
To expose the lies of Koku, the HSGF came into the news in 2016, and has been based in Ho, and had come out with the agitation for the restoration of the so-called Western Togoland as a state to be declared independent on May 9, 2017. It, therefore, stands out with evidence that the motives of this group had nothing to do with statements made by the President in his Independence Day address, and also, they were in existence long before the General Elections. The question is why were they quiet then, but loud now? Obviously, Koku must have been managing and directing their affairs and made sure that they raised nothing injurious to the NDC government, but are out loud and clear to disrupt this new government’s agenda.
If Koku is saying that Western Togoland extended from the Upper East down to the shore, then he is either mischievous or he knows next to nothing about his own home region. History has it that almost sixty-one years ago, on Wednesday May 9, 1956, the people of the British Trans Volta Togoland (TVT) went for a referendum on whether they would fully join the Gold Coast as one union, or stay as a separate state. The TVT was originally called the Western Togoland, after the German Colony of Togoland was split into two, with the French taking the other piece. This was when Germany lost control of its colonies during World War One, and lost everything in Africa by 1918. The partitioning of German Togoland was done in 1916, with the British taking the smaller portion of 33,775 sq. km, with Ho as capital; an area which stretched from a few miles up to Ho, and through to the borders of modern day Burkina Faso. The coastal parts of the Volta Region, from Tongu to Anlo, never belonged to the German Togoland, and had been part of the Gold Coast ever since the colony was created in 1821.
The land from Ho and beyond was peopled by the Ewe Vedome, the Guans (Lolobi, Likpe, Akpafu, Buem, and Nkonya among others) and the Akans. The rest of Western Togoland was peopled by the Gonjas, Dagombas and Mamprusis among others. These peoples continue to be indigenes of these lands to this day.
Political agitation began in 1948 by some people in the Trans Volta Togoland, which was the name given to Western Togoland, after a League of Nations mandate on July 20, 1922. It became the UN Trust Territory on December 13, 1946.
This agitation, which was based on unification as a separate state, or to join Ghana or Togo as a union, might have convinced some Ewes down south, beyond TVT, to also bring awareness to their people of the need to have some Ewe autonomy. Hence the S. G. Antor-led Togoland Congress, founded in 1951 as a political party, fought for a united Ewe State to include all the French Togolese who were Ewes. To have won three seats in 1954, and two in 1956 indicates that, indeed, there are some Ewes who wanted to be united as an independent state. The unificationists claimed that the Ewes will not be free, but dominated by other peoples of the Gold Coast if they join them, thus taken a similar position as the National Liberation Movement of the Ashanti.
Some Ewe leaders like Daniel Chapman and Gerald Awumah expressed the views that Ewes would be better off in a united British Gold Coast.
Such agitations gave rise to the UN Plebiscite in 1956, which mandated that people in the TVT were to vote in a referendum to decide their fate. In simple terms, they were to decide whether to be part of the Gold Coast, or whether they want to part ways, that is To Go Or Not To Go to Togo.
On May 9, 1956, with a voter turnout of 83%, 58%, or 93039, of the estimated 160,585 people voted to back the union with the Gold Coast, and 42%, or 67,492, voted against it, with 17% or 32,890 abstaining, claiming lack of knowledge about what was voted for. The results by electoral areas based on for Union or for Separation were as follows: Mamprusi, 17,870 (84%) voted for Union and 3,429 (16%) voted for Separation; Dagomba, 28,083 (81%) for Union and 6,549 (19%) for Separation; Gonja, 3,166 (54%) voted for Union and 2,729 (46%) voted for Separation; Buem/Krachi, 28,176 (60%) voted for Union and 18,775 (40%) voted for Separation; Kpandu, 8,581 (34%) voted for Union and 17,029 (66%) voted for Separation and in Ho, the TVT capital, 7,217 (27%) voted for Union and 18,981 (73%) voted for Separation. The North had voted massively to remain in Ghana, while the South had rejected the decision. The French Togolese had also voted to remain in a united French Togoland. Some records spoke of higher figures of 142,214 or 63.9% of 224,313 people voting to stay, in a voter turnout of 82.26%.
The results meant that the Trans Volta Togoland (Western Togo) became part of the Gold Coast. However, there were armed rebellions by the people of Alavanyo against integration with the Gold Coast.
The agitation for separation again came up during the Kutu Acheampong regime, when it was mentioned to him at a durbar in Ho, in July 1975.
Then news in August 2016 came with the information that a group called the Homeland Study Group Foundation (HSGF) was seeking a separate state to be called Western Togoland, with Independence Day fixed for May 9, 2017 to mark the reversal of the decision to join the Gold Coast, exactly sixty two years ago. The HSGF might be working feverishly under cover during the NDC era, and has strategically decided to come out strongly in the NPP to take the new government off more important issues and succeed in derailing its plans of restoring economic power to the people.
The three leaders of the HGSF, based in Ho, seeking to declare the whole of the Volta Region and parts of the Northern and Upper East Region an independent state, were Charles Kormi Kudzordzi (Papa Hogbedetor), 83; Martin Asiana Agbenu, 63, and Divine Odonkor, 59. They had distributed T-shirts with the inscription 9th May 2017 is OUR DAY Western Togoland. This indicates that a lot of work had gone into the preparation and execution of its agenda. The three were charged with treason and arrested, with only Papa Hogbedetor released on bail due to age.
According to news reports the membership of the group is growing. And for NDC gurus like Koku Anyidoho distorting facts and trying hard to defend these separatists, clearly indicate the political agenda of some members of the opposition to make sure nothing good comes out of this current regime.
As the nation prepares to create the Oti region out of the Volta Region, some political manifestations through some chiefs want the Ewe town of Hohoe to be the capital, in a bid to have minority Ewe dominance over the majority Guans and Akans. Failing in this, attempts are now made by some Ewes to secede to form an independent state, forgetting that the Northern section had voted massively to stay in the Gold Coast, now Ghana, and are today in entirely different regions. They forever want to remain.
And let us also remember that the southern part of the Volta Region was never part of the Western Togoland, making only a landmass of about 6,457 sq. km available for the new state, referring here to the municipalities and districts of Ho, Hohoe, Kpando, South Dayi and Adaklu Anyigbe. Assuming the Southern Ewes are lured to come aboard, the inherent differences, gross suspicion and superiority complex between the Southerners and Northerners could break up the union.
If this agenda of those opposition elements and separatists fail, will the dream ever die? It does not seem possible, so it is suggested that all Ghanaians must address the grievances of these pro-Western Togoland separatists with love and passion. The issue of “To go or not To go, to Togo,†will forever remain, but May 9, 2017 should however remain another remembrance of the May 9, 2001 stadium disaster, and not a celebration of a new state.
Will the political opponents of this Nana Addo administration either come aboard and join all well-meaning Ghanaians to get the nation back on her feet, or if they won’t, they should let peace remain and stand by and watch!