Western Togolanders’ take on an Interview granted to A TV Station by Abdul-Malik Kweku Baako and Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa

Our attention has been drawn to a discussion hosted by a local TV station, Metro TV, concerning the situation in Western Togoland. The invited guests were Mr. Abdul Malik Kweku Baako and Mr. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa  who were there apparently as knowledgeable people on the matter.

These two people were trying hard to convince themselves and the Ghanaian people that a country called Western Togoland does not exist, hence any claim of restauration of such country should be dealt as a matter of urgency, and people raising this claim must be arrested, charged and prosecuted according to the law. Kweku Baako expressed his annoyance to the fact that Mr. Kosi Kedem did mention Western Togoland as his country. Basically, in the mind of the two men the words Western Togoland is an anathema.

This mindset, which is typical of a section of the Ghanaian population, is unfortunate, because it is based on plain ignorance and/or intellectual dishonesty.

Kweku Baako, Samuel Okudzeto, and those who are trying very hard to deny the existence of Western Togoland are wasting their time, because Western Togoland is our country, and we will never relent in our effort to restore it. No intimidation, no harassment will break our resolve.

For the information of Ghanaians who unfortunately don’t know the real history of the construct they are calling their country Ghana, we want to emphatically state the following:

1. Western Togoland has never been a colony of the United Kingdom unlike the Gold Coast. The fact that the UK took the liberty to administer Western Togoland from Accra on behalf of the UN did not mean that both territories have become one entity.  The UK could have appointed an administrator to Ho, Kpando or Hohoe to fulfill the UN madate, but decided otherwise, for reasons that became more and more obvious as the years went by.
2. Western Togoland and Eastern Togoland were parts of one country called Togoland, and became League of Nations mandated territories until the League of Nations was replaced by the UN in 1918. Those territories then became UN Trust territories.  The trusteeship system, like the mandate system, was established on the premise that colonial territories taken from countries defeated in war should not be annexed by the victorious powersbut should be administered by a trust country under international supervision until their future status was determined (Wikipedia). The Trusteeship Council, one of the principal organs of the United Nations (UN), was designed to supervise the government of trust territories and to lead them to self-government or independence (Encyclopaedia Britannica).
3. During the period leading to, and after the 1956 plebiscite, the Gold Coast was still a British colony. Kwame Nkrumah, who will become the first president of Ghana on March 6, 1957, was neither a native/citizen of Western Togoland, nor a UN appointee lended to the UK to help in the the administration of Western Togoland.  Our lingering questions, therefore, has been, and still is: in what capacity was he roaming around in Western Togoland, a territory distinct from the Gold Coast. Who gave him the authorization to do so, and who financed his activities in a foreign country? On February 27, 1957 Gold Coast was still not independent; Kwame Nkrumah was not a freelance agent of the UN in Western Togoland. In what capacity did he deploy the army and police to crush the movement of Western Togolanders who still viscerally opposed the integration of their country into the Gold Coast, a UN Trust territory, into the Gold Coast to form a new country, and demanded the independence of their country?
4. When the UK informed the UN that she could not continue to administer the Trust territory of Western Togoland, because she would be leaving the Gold Coast after the latter’s independence, and suggested that Western Togoland joined the Gold Coast after independence, the World Organization clearly charged her to effectthe union between the two countries and submit a report to confirm the process.
5. In the Ghana Independence Act of February 7, 1957 Western Togoland is nowhere to be found. However, and suddenly in the document T/1301 of 6 March 1957, the UK formally informed the UN that… “with effect from midnight 5/6 March, 1957 under the terms of Ghana Independence Act (5and 6, Eliz. II, ch. 6) territories previously comprised in the Gold Coast, became the Independent State of Ghana. Under the same act, the Union of the former Trust Territory of Togoland under British administration with the independent state of Ghana took place the same time and date”.
6. When did Western Togoland ceased to be a Trust Territory?
7. Who negotiated and signed the terms of the Union of Western Togoland with the independent state of Ghana?
8. Where did the the negotiations and the signature of the Union of Western Togoland with the independent state of Ghana take place?
9. Who were the representatives of Western Togoland at the negotiation table?
10. WHERE IS THE UNION AGREEMENT BETWEEN WESTERN TOGOLAND AND THE GOLD COAST TO FORM THE COUNTRY CALLED GHANA?

The Ghana government can’t answer the questions above or is unwilling to do so. And Mr. Kweku Baako and his  express their annoyance and disapproval that Western Togolanders call Western Togoland their country!

As for Mr. Samuel A. Okudzeto, the least said about him, the better. The man is a disaster of an MP. He must have bribed people he calls his constituents to be elected to the Ghanaian parliament. He has hopelessly demonstrated his clulessness during his performance at the TV show. Readers of this document, including his fellow NDC members will judge for themselves when he claims that the map of German Transvolta Togoland cuts across parts of Togo, parts of Cameroon, South East Africa and East Africa. Further, he challenged the proponents of the restoration of Western Togoland with these questions: “When you say you are going to form a new republic, how are you going to get portions of Togo to join you, how are you going to get portions of Cameroon to join you? How are you going to get portions of  Savana Region, North East, and all that to join you? Talk about confusion big time.

Amid all the empty talk, both men acknowledged that an alternative form of state, a federal one, was proposed, and Kwame Nkrumah vehemently opposed it, preferring a unitary state. They concluded that, if Kwame Nkrumah had accepted the fereral government option, we would not be facing the recurring crisis we are currently in.

All that Western Togolanders are requesting is for Ghana to show maturity and accept to participate in solving the issue of the Union agreement between Western Togoland and Ghana. It takes at least two partners to form a union, so if Ghana want a Union with Western Togoland, she has to put her cards on the table and accept to review the union agreement that makes us part of Ghana, and if that agreement does not exist, we have to negotiate and sign  one.one.

Mr W. GERALDO