The secessionists with their leader (seated 2nd right)
The secessionist,
Charles Komi Kudzordzi, aka Papavi Kudzordzi, is on the run as security agents
go after him following his so-called declaration on Saturday of independence of
an imaginary country called Western Togoland.
Technically on bail
after he was arrested earlier, alongside other members of his political
grouping, the Homeland Study Group, Papavi made an appearance before a judge
before being granted bail.
Last Saturday, many
members of his group and others sympathetic to his cause joined him at a spot
not far away from the Police Training School in Ho, where he declared a
breakaway from the Volta Region, North West and some parts of the Upper East
Region.
Soon after declaring
a breakaway of ‘Western Togoland’, an act which is considered a treasonable
felony and carries a maximum sentence when convicted, he was whisked away in a
waiting car.
Not even those who
watched him make the daring declaration knew his destination as the car sped
off.
Security agents from
the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) and the national security apparatus
have not yet located his whereabouts.
It is believed that
he is hiding in nearby Togo or somewhere within the part of the country he
claims is part of his imaginary Western Togoland.
The silence which
followed his declaration of independence prompted questions as to whether the act
of treasonable felony was going to be responded to at all.
DAILY
GUIDE
is unable to confirm whether or not some of the secessionist followers have
been arrested or not. Under such treasonable circumstances, other members of
the seceding group are susceptible to arrests.
Considering the
gravity of the criminality of secession, many have asked why members of the
Homeland Group were able to get away so easily without the security agents
swooping over them, especially during the declaration of independence.
Government
Response
A statement from the
Information Ministry when it landed eventually left nobody in doubt that the
leader of the secession and his gang were under the radar of the national
security apparatus.
“The Government of
Ghana takes note of a group known as the Homeland Study Foundation, purporting
to declare secession from Ghana,” Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said
in a statement.
This is the first
reaction in writing from the government since the secession bid of the gang
reached a crescendo, with the declaration of independence and an announcement
of proceeding to seek recognition from the United Nations.
He has also said he
is forming a government to push for their demands.
Ghanaians have been
asked by government “to disregard the claims by the group; the general public
is hereby informed that state security agencies are taking the necessary
measures to ensure that persons involved with the illegal act are dealt with in
accordance with the law.
“Ghana government has
given an assurance that it has not ceded any part of its territory to anybody,
person or a group of persons,” the statement went on.
As if the
independence declaration was not enough, the octogenarian has claimed that the
Akosombo Dam belongs to the non-existent ‘Western Togoland’ and was coming for
it.
The leader of the
secessionists and a few of his followers are no strangers to the cells of the
BNI, having been arrested earlier and flown to Accra when their activities
attracted the national security apparatus.
Soon after the
government announcement asking Ghanaians to disregard the so-called
independence declaration, the group has reportedly dared the state from an
unknown location.
History
Today’s Volta Region and a part of the
Northern Region are not new to territorial controversies. On 9th May 1956, in
the twilight of colonial rule in the Gold Coast, a referendum was held on the
status of what was then called British Togoland.
The referendum offered
the people the choice of remaining a Trust Territory until French Togoland
decided which direction it wanted to go, part of the new
Ghana or otherwise.
The Togoland Congress
campaigned for amalgamation with French Togoland. The referendum results showed
that 63.9 per cent favoured being with Ghana and the others, French Togoland.
Octogenarian Charles Komi Kudzordzi is part of those who opposed the amalgamation as he continuously regards the amalgamation with Ghana an illegality, something which is common to his Western Togoland speeches.
By A.R. Gomda
