Over the past week, Ghanaians woke up to a shock of what could be described as well-coordinated terrorist attacks on state security installations and some towns in the Volta Region. A secessionist group identifying itself as Western Togoland made such a move which security experts could agree that they were not just a group of bandits, but well trained in guerrilla warfare and military discipline.
Calling for a separate state by this group is rather sad to conceive. It is like the agenda by the White man to make us forever separate and disunited is being supported and pushed on by us, the Blacks.
God created us and put us on this side of the globe close to each other so that we can live as one. Then came the White man who, under the influence of alcohol and it must certainly be, drew imaginary lines across our land and placed us in different countries, making sure that we remain disunited. So one could wake up from bed one morning only to find out that his farm, now some hundred metres away from home, lies in another country, and he may require a visa every day to visit his own farm. Some were even less lucky, because, within their house under the same roof, they are separated from that sibling whose room is down the corridor. They are now in different countries with different identities, and most likely different languages. They now remain separated and disunited until thy kingdom come.
The White Man’s Agenda: Jesus Christ prophesied the fall of Jerusalem, and it did happen in 70 AD, after a six months war, from March to September. Having no reason for coming to Jerusalem, because the temple was gone, the Jewish people were in the Diaspora for 1,878 years, before returning in 1948 to re-establish their nation. Their first President, Weizmann, declared that all non-Jews on the land were most welcome to join the Jewish people to form the State of Israel. The British, who were not happy about this development, influenced the Arabs not to accept that offer and went on to destroy the Jews to the other Arab nations.
Most of the Arabs moved out of Israel, with some establishing what is wrongfully called Palestine, because Palestine refers to the whole area, and adopted the name Palestinian, which has no foundation in the history of the area. Others went to other established Arab nations and were put in camps. Those who broke away are living in misery.
Those who remained in Israel have been accepted as Jews and enjoy all benefits that the Jews enjoy. They are called the Arab Jews. The outcome, to this day, is the never ending conflict between the State of Israel and the Arabs. This is how the White man wanted things to be; to make sure that there is no unity in places like that, so that they can divide and rule.
Hoping the Black Race Remains Split Forever: Africa was not spared this evil project, and to this day, most Africans look upon the White man as supreme and the solutions to their problems, while their fellow Black Africans are the source of all evil.
Ethnicity is very high on this our continent with nations not trusting one or the other, and within the countries, there continues to be high suspicion and dislike among the ethnic groups.
The Togoland Factor: The Germans took over a colony they chose to call Togoland, with one half starting from the coast, and another beginning some sixteen kilometres from Ho and ending in Pusiga on the Ghana-Burkina Faso border. During World War I, the English and French dislodged the Germans from Togoland, and after the war, the League of Nations split the colony into two, making them it’s Trust Territories and gave one each to the French and the English to administer. After the Second World War, they became UN Trust Territories, under the administration of the French and the English, as it had been. The British Togoland was administered by the British from Accra, while the French administered theirs from Lomé.
The 1956 Plebiscite: After the people of the Gold Coast served notice that they would like to go independent, the British declared to the UN that as soon as her colony went independent she will no longer administer British Togoland. The UN took the decision and gave the mandate to the people in that Trust Territory to decide whether to join the new independent nation or remain separate. Hence the Plebiscite on May 1956, and the Territory was divided into six electoral districts, namely Mamprusi, Dagomba, Gonja, Buem/Krachi, Kpando and Ho, and people went to vote to decide on Union with Ghana or Separation.
The results reflected a similar pattern of voting on both the pro-Union and pro-Separatists. The first four districts voted to unite with their ethnic groups and chiefdoms which were within the Gold Coast, while Ho and Kpando voted overwhelmingly to join the Ewes in French Togoland. The first four districts, however, carried the day in a 58% to 42% decision, and so the whole of British Togoland, which was to become Trans-Volta Togoland, was mandated to join Ghana on March 6, 1957.
The Beginning of the Problems: The people of Kpando and Ho districts, who constitute the Wedome Ewes, were against the decision of the Plebiscite. They felt it should have gone their way, and so to make sure that the independence of Ghana did not come on, since that would seal their doom, they introduced bloodshed in the districts in a guerrilla warfare approach. The months of January to March of 1957 were the bloodiest in the Wedome area. The government of the new country managed to put things under control.
Highly Ridiculous Decision: After they had all agreed to partake in the Plebiscite with all terms and conditions, which included making the first to pass the post to carry the day, the Wedome Ewes took a ‘U-turn’ and declared that their decision should hold, not only for them, but for the whole of the Territory.
In 1992, Ghana went to the polls to decide who should rule the country for the coming four years. Nine out of the ten regions preferred Rawlings to be their next ruler, with only the Ashanti Region deciding against him. What would it be like if the Ashanti Region had decided to secede from Ghana, because they did not choose Rawlings? This is the Wedome Ewes decision on the matter of the Plebiscite, and this is why they have decided to go to war.
More Adventures Going Forward: There is an amusing pattern being strictly adhered to by the secessionists. For all the nine years of the First Republic, apart from the skirmishes of early March 1957, the secessionists allowed peace to reign in Ghana under Nkrumah. Nkrumah is, however, being blamed by the Wedomes for manipulating the Plebiscite to make sure that the pro-Union votes won the day.
Nothing much was heard of the Wedome Ewes during the National Liberation Council (NLC) and Progress Party (PP) regimes. Then came the Acheampong regime when they came out boldly to demand to be given their independence.
They went silent throughout the Rawlings (1) regime and the Limann regime, and nothing much was heard about them during the nineteen years of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC)/National Democratic Congress (NDC) regimes. When Kufuor’s New Patriotic party (NPP) regime came, they struck back but were coolly silenced. In the Mills/Mahama regime, they were not heard of, however, they could boldly go to the Registrar-General’s Department and register a company or non-governmental organisation (NGO) which had among its line of business, secession from Ghana. The Homeland Study Group Foundation (HSGF) was officially formed during the immediate past NDC administration, however, they did not begin business until the NPP came to power.
And their demands grew from a public declaration of independence to outright adoption of militant adventures to address their grievances.
The provocation by these separatists, who have decided to site their Western Togoland in other ethnic groups’ lands, which were never even part of British Togoland, cannot be acceptable. If they want to secede, they cannot force other groups to be part of them.
The Truth Must Be Told: It is amazing how the people of an ethnic group, which stands for the truth, will suddenly, turn into one which peddles untruth to the youth. The government must know that it is about time everyone is educated on German Togoland, British Togoland and everything that led to the 1956 Plebiscite and matters following. In fact, if the UN had adopted the Cameroon Plebiscite approach, in which a district went where it voted for and not collectively, there would be nothing like this Western Togoland matter today.
The truth must be told that going as the crow flies, towns like Kpeve, Avedje and Frankadua only share the southern boundaries of British Togoland and do actually lie in the Gold Coast, so Akosombo, which is a town of the Akan Akwamu ethnic group, Peki, Tongu, Some and Anlo, which are ethnic Ewes, do not belong to British Togoland and so cannot be claimed for Western Togoland. Juapong and Sogakope, therefore, cannot be and are not part of Western Togoland.
Choosing the White Man over God: God created us and put us near to each other, but the White man decided to separate us. Today, some Wedome Ewes believe that the only place they prefer to be is where the Germans placed them. Are these Wedome Ewes not creating a Palestine situation here in Ghana as they seek independence to be in German Togoland at all costs, but at what cost?
Hon Daniel Dugan
The post Western Togoland; a Palestine in Ghana? (1) appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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