The People’s Liberation Council (PLC) of Western Togoland’s is in the possession of a video telecast on Pan African Television in which Veteran Ghanaian Journalist and Managing Editor of The Insight Newspaper was seen and heard making some pronouncements in relation to the issue of Western Togoland to commemorate Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Day Celebrations.
In the said video which is attached above, the General Secretary of The Socialist Movement of Ghana, sort to suggest that it was Ghana’s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah who paved the way for Western Togoland to join it’s territory with an independent Gold Coast after the Plebiscite of May 9, 1956, forming what is known today as the present day modern Ghana.
The PLC considers Mr. Pratt’s assertion as erroneous and misleading and wish to set the record straight as follows:
1. Mr. Pratt, an Nkrumaist and for that matter a strong advocate of Nkrumah’s ideologies, lacks the facts as to the reality of the Togoland question and the proposed Union that was to be formed between Western Togoland and independent Gold Coast.
2. The fact that Dr Kwame Nkrumah connived and conspired with the British government to forcefully annex Western Togoland into Ghana does not mean that he spearheaded any such Union between the two countries as nothing exists till this day as a legal Union between the two sovereign states.
3. The proposed Union between Western Togoland and Ghana was based on recommendations presented to the UN General Assembly by it’s delegated Visiting Mission to Togoland after it’s findings that, a Plebiscite be held to determine the future of Western Togoland. Nkrumah had nothing to do with that proposed Plebiscite or Union as being suggested by Kwesi Pratt Jr.
4. Indeed Dr Kwame Nkrumah never wanted Western Togoland to be accorded the recognition of a sovereign state let alone be accorded it’s rightful freedoms and liberties, but preferred that the territory be annexed into the Gold Coast, as was evident in the political machinations he employed to achieve his diabolic desires prior to the Plebiscite.
5. It is on record that prior to the holding of the Plebiscite, Nkrumah and his CPP government unleashed Gold Coast security forces on the people of Western Togoland, terrorizing, killing and forcing many Western Togoland freedom fighters including the leader of the Togoland Liberation Movement (TOLIMO), which later became the Togoland Congress, S.G Antor to flee their territory into exile in neighboring Eastern Togoland at the time, now the Republic of Togo, to avoid being victimized and killed by Nkrumah and his cohorts.
6. The claim by Kwesi Pratt Jr. that S.G Antor, the “secessionist leader” was appointed by Dr. K. A Busia as Ghana’s Ambassador to the Republic of Togo does not mesh with the facts that K. A Busia recognized the immense role S.G Antor played in fighting for the rights and freedoms and the liberation of his people from Nkrumah and his cohorts, based on the UN charter at his disposal and got the ambassadorial appointment on merit. Indeed S.G Antor cannot be described as a secessionist leader because fighting for the liberation of the people of Western Togoland is not the same as rebellious secession as Mr Pratt wants the world to believe.
7. We strongly believe that either Mr. Pratt lacks the facts on the Togoland question or he is just being economical with the facts and playing the ostrich. If he does lacks the facts on the issue, we suggest to him to consult the PLC for assistance and clarity on the facts, rather than misleading the public. Much as we appreciate the fact that Mr Pratt tries to make some useful points and truths as pertains to the Western Togoland issue, his consistent mention of Kwame Nkrumah as the brain behind the joining of the territory to modern Ghana is inaccurate and could distort the facts.
8. The PLC wishes to state categorically and emphatically that the proposed Union between Western Togoland and Ghana by the UN which was agreed to by all the parties involved in the Togoland question, ie the UN itself, Britain and the government of the Gold Coast, was never meant to materialize, since it was shot down right from the onset of negotiations. There was never any Union agreement signed between Ghana and Western Togoland and any interested parties to the Plebiscite to warrant such unguarded comments coming from someone like Mr Kwesi Pratt Jr, who should have known better.
9. The PLC continues to describe Dr. Kwame Nkrumah as a “political criminal” and “terrorist” who at the time of the Plebiscite, terrorized the people of Western Togoland and sent their leaders into exile to thwart the UN proposed Union, resulting in the many decades of untold hardships and marginalization of Western Togoland to satisfy their whims and caprices.
10. Kwesi Pratt cannot therefore claim that the people of Western Togoland do not know their history – He claimed that Western Togoland was not originally part of modern day Ghana and that is wholly true, but that does not suggest that the people of Western Togoland do not know their history. We are fully aware of our history and our origin and if anybody was unaware of their history, then that should be Kwesi Pratt Jr. and his Ghanaian counterparts (emphasis ours)
11. It is a foregone conclusion that the people of Western Togoland have over the years been shortchanged and relegated to the background through no fault of theirs, but because of the imperialist tactics employed by Nkrumah and his British collaborators since the dawn of the May 9, 1956 Plebiscite.
12. We dare to say that this diabolic political antics will not deter the people of Western Togoland from continuing to fight for the right thing to be done in revisiting the dictates of the proposed Union and following those dictates to the letter.
13. We finally wish to reiterate that the People’s Liberation Council (PLC) is a peaceful organization, that is not interested in destabilizing Ghana’s peace and democracy, but what we have over the years since our formation been hammering and calling for is the the use of democratic and constitutional means to establish and consumate the Union between Western Togoland and Ghana as contained in the UN resolution and charter, and the restoration of the freedoms and liberties of the people of Western Togoland which we strongly advocate is necessary for the peaceful coexistence of the two sovereign states.
14. Let it be empasized here that, not until Ghana uses democratic and constitutional means to establish the Union between herself and Western Togoland, Ghana will continue to engage in political blunders bringing upon herself untold hardships and economic upheavals to and underdevelopment to the detriment of her people, which we do not wish and pray for to happen to our Ghanaian counterparts.
Issued by the Communications Bureau of the PLC of Western Togoland.