The separatist group in Volta Region pushing for breakaway and independence for Western Togoland from Ghana has mounted a billboard at Akorley In Somanya in the Eastern Region claiming the area as within the territory of Western Togoland.
Residents of Somanya woke up Thursday, September 3, 2020, to see billboards erected at the roadside when towards Somanya from Accra with the inscription “Welcome to Western Togo Land” and “You are leaving Western Togo Land” when heading to Accra.
A flag with colors, Orange, White, and Green with the inscriptions of Western Togoland was also hoisted at some point.
Meanwhile, armed police officers from the Yilo Krobo Command had pulled down the billboard Thursday afternoon.
A resident, Samuel whose house is closer to the scene told the media the billboard was erected either in the night or early dawn of Thursday because the board was not mounted as of 6 pm the previous day he passed by to his home.
Further information indicates that a similar board is mounted in Akuse in the Lower Manya Krobo Municipality.
Many members of the secessionist have been arrested since 2019 and facing trial.
A publication by UNPO narrates that during the colonial era, Western Togoland was controlled by the British, while Eastern Togoland (which went on to become Togo) was administered by the French. The region of Western Togoland has been a part of Ghana since it gained its independence from the UK in 1957. However, while a plebiscite was held on Western Togoland’s incorporation into the Gold Coast (later Ghana), the vote was marred with difficulties: bribery, violence, and killings.
The British justification for uniting the two colonies was that the two colonies’ “affairs are so closely mingled that the separate administration of this inland territory would be against both the interests and, almost certainly, also the wishes of its peoples.”
UNPO stated that since the two entities were merged, Western Togolanders have never been fully integrated into Ghanaian society. There have been multiple attempts to exclude the people in the region by designating them ‘aliens’, continuously highlighting their irreconcilability with the rest of Ghana, as well as advocating their expulsion from the country.
Source: Mybrytfmonline/Obed Ansah
