Dr Akofa K. Segbefia

HSGF: Ghana’s own Biafra?

Mohammed Ali Opinion Aug - 24 - 2016 , 14:08

I am an extremely proud citizen of New Juaben in spite of my Ewe names. Also, I am proud to hail from Anyako in the Volta Region because that is where my parents hailed from and settled in Koforidua where I was born, just as how proud I am to be a Ghanaian. It is for this reason that I read with consternation about a group calling itself The Homeland Study Group Foundation [HSGF] “agitating for the restoration of a so-called State of Western Togoland” as reported by the Daily Graphic in its Thursday, August 18, 2016 issue.

According to the story, the group intends to declare a state of independence from Ghana on May 9, 2017. The story states that one Mr G.Y. Agrah made the point at a meeting of 107 people in Ho, claiming that people of the so-called Western Togoland are “plebiscite citizens in Ghana.” The area the group is claiming stretches from the Bawku East District in the Upper East Region and the lands bordering the east of the Volta River down south to the Gulf of Guinea.

The group alleges “machinations of British Colonialists” for the territory to be a part of present-day Ghana and that it is time to break away after 102 years. It is difficult to see the rationale behind the claims of this group. First: can this group prove what the “machinations of British Colonialists” are? Second: were the people forced into voting in a particular way in the plebiscite or democratic tenets were in place where the people voted on their own volition?

Assuming, without admitting that this group had a case, what options or roadmap are available to them in this matter? The first option, in my candid opinion, is to go to court to seek a declaration that their demands are legitimate by proving that there was a lack of democracy in the plebiscite and that there, indeed, were “machinations of British Colonialists” in the process or a declaration that the plebiscite was null and void and of no effect.

The second option is to start an insurgency; that is to take up arms and attempt a breakaway from Ghana by declaring independence on May 9, 2017. I wonder if any court in Ghana will grant whatever reliefs the group might seek under the first option but the second option is a clear case of high treason. The declaration of intent by Agrah and his group is more than enough for the national security apparatus to pick the leaders of this group immediately.

Fortunately for this country, the PNDC administration, unlike previous military regimes that imposed Constitutions on the nation, subjected the 1992 Constitution to a national referendum; and citizens within the territory being claimed by this group voted with higher percentages for the adoption of this Constitution, thus, subjecting themselves to the spirit and letter of the 1992 Constitution and the sovereignty of the Republic of Ghana.

The Constitution is the supreme law of Ghana and anyone or group who acts ultra vires of this law is in violation of the sovereignty of the country. Having stated all the above, there is the need for us all to find out who are behind this secessionist movement. What are the motives of this group and who stands to benefit from what appears clearly to be an attempt to throw this country into a state of civil war as was the Biafra case in Nigeria?

As the name implies, it is a foundation, so must be an NGO. Then it must have been registered with the Registrar General’s Department since the 1994 that its leaders claim it was formed. If it is an association by guarantee as prescribed by law, who are the guarantors? What are the objectives of this group? It is not enough for Mr Charles Kudjorjie, the group’s chairman to site the Apollo 568 and construction of the Akosombo Dam and what he claims to be unsavoury comments against Ewes as reasons to want to secede. Is the group fighting for Ewes or the territory they claim stretches from the east of Bawku down south to the Atlantic?