Many people, including even lawyers, have been of the view that because Ghana is a sovereign country, any attempt to separate Western (British) Togoland from it is secession and amounts to treason.
These people are ignorant about the history of Western Togoland (WTL) and the Gold Coast.
According to Google Dictionary, SECESSION is the action of withdrawing formally from membership of a federation or body, especially a political state.
From this definition, attempts to restore Western Togoland’s independence cannot justifiably be considered secession for the following reasons:
1. The Gold Coast territories declared politically independent by Colonial Master Britain and hence sovereign on March 6, 1957, DID NOT include any part of Western Togoland.
Britain’s Allan Clarke’s telegram to the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General (UN Note record T/1301) explicitly stated so.
2. Despite the May 9, 1956 Plebiscite result which “confirmed” a political UNION with Gold Coast when it became an independent sovereign state, the results were never ratified, nor was the UNION relationship formalized. Both the UN and Ghana officially stated there are no records of any UNION agreement or constitution between Ghana and Western Togoland.
3. Only independent sovereign nations can enter into a political UNION. Since Britain failed to implement the Western Togoland independence that the UN mandated in its resolution 1044 (XI) of 13th December 1956, following the plebiscite results, Western Togoland was not independent on March 6, 1957, and hence could not have entered a political UNION with Ghana.
4. Colonial Britain’s telegram to the UN mentioned above also stated that Britain had carried out the UNION of Western Togoland and independent Ghana as per the mandate of resolution 1044 (XI) mentioned above. But this was both a calculated DISINFORMATION AND MISINFORMATION.
Unfortunately the UN, for whatever reason, failed to exercise its due diligence of verification of the facts.
5. Since there IS NO FORMAL UNION with Ghana, separating Western Togoland from Ghana is not a FORMAL WITHDRAWAL according to the definition of secession above, and hence not an offense, let alone a treasonable offense.
Now some are of the view that Western Togoland was covered by Ghana’s 1992 constitution as a part of Ghana, hence any effort to separate it amounts to secession and hence treasonable.
Again, unfortunately, some Ghanaian lawyers also hold this view. But this is also out of ignorance or deliberate misinformation. For if somebody encroaches on my land without my permission and manages to secure title to it (a document to cover the land), it does not prevent me from fighting to get my land back? And does my effort to get back my land constitute an illegality? I believe all certified Ghanaian lawyers will answer NO, except the clause that if I know of the encroachment but do nothing about it for 12 years, that will amount to consent and the encroacher can no longer be evicted.
Fortunately for Western Togoland, our ancestors started the efforts to resist the illegal occupation by Ghana right from the onset. But Nkrumah, with the collaboration of Britain, used brute force to not only illegally occupy Western Togoland, but also cut off huge chunks and integrated them into Ghana. All efforts since 1957 to get the stolen Western Togoland back from Ghana had been met with brute force and intimidation including unlawful arrests, detentions and tortures some of which resulted in deaths, and wrongful convictions, the latest being the unarmed demonstrations of September 25, 2020.
But Western Togoland citizens will never give up. When persuasion fails, FORCE must apply. Unfortunately, when force moves, it doesn’t discriminate between blood relationships.
Western Togoland Freedom Fighters are still hopeful that Ghana will do the needful by peacefully negotiating its exit from Western Togoland Territory.
Western Togoland’s peaceful Negotiation Team is ready at any time to meet Ghana’s. Otherwise, when force starts it will devour everything in its path with seething 67-year anger.
Hopefully, Ghana would not wait to say “HAD I KNOWN,” as a stitch in time saves nine.
Whoever has ears, let them hear.
The writer, Bobby Quaqoo is a Freelance Journalist and Western Togoland Freedom Fighter
Contact: westtogo@outlook.com