Ultimately, no one will benefit from the ignorance, distortions, false propaganda and confusion on the British Togoland Question. It is, therefore, unfortunate that we in Ghana have cultivated the cynical and bad habit to describe anybody who speaks about the British Togoland Question as a secessionist.
British Togoland history is part of Ghana’s history. Can we talk about the history of Ghana and leave out the history of British Togoland? Simply put a secessionist is a person who wants to use force or unconstitutional means to secede or break away from a country. In that sense nobody talks, or should talk, about secession in Ghana because there is no basis for it. What is happening in Ghana right now has nothing to do with secession or secessionists.
In fact, secession is only in the mind of the oppressors and occupiers; the imperialist. Out of fear for the truth they use secession as weapon or tool to gag, harass and destroy innocent people. Let us look at the facts of the case.
The people of British Togoland were asked by the UN in a plebiscite in May 1956 whether they would like to join their territory in a UNION with independent Gold Coast (Ghana) or remain under the UN Trusteeship pending the determination of their political future. The majority of them voted for UNION and not integration.
At this stage it is important to point out that the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) had rejected integration recommended by the 1955 UN Visiting Mission to the Togolands and adopted Union.
In essence, this meant that the UNGA was, no doubt, totally aware of the differences between Union and integration before it decided to opt for Union. After the people of Togoland voted for Union the UNGA went ahead to express approval for Union not integration under UN Resolution 1044(XI) and invited Britain, the Administering Authority of British Togoland, to take such steps as were necessary to bring about the Union.
Unfortunately, Britain swerved the UN. Instead of establishing a Union, on the pretext of quelling a rebellion in Togoland (eg Alavanyo/Kpando crisis) she invaded, occupied and wrongly and forcibly integrated British Togoland with independent Gold Coast (Ghana) on March 6 1957 under the inappropriate and highly controversial 1957 Ghana Independence Act that did not have a single word or clause about the Ghana-British Togoland Union.
There is need to repeat that instead of a Union prescribed by UN Res. 1044(XI), Britain rather installed undesirable integration, which was rejected earlier by UNGA. Naturally and definitely the people of Togoland were very unhappy and aggrieved and who would not be in the circumstances? They felt cheated and short-changed and they, of course, protested.
In fact, they have been protesting since 1957. They want the Union they voted for on 9 May 1956 and approved by UN Res. 1044(XI) to be respected, accepted and installed.
That is all and it is as simple as that. No! They are not asking for separation or secession as their detractors would like us to believe. Why call this desire for genuine Union secession and insult the people of British Togoland as secessionists?
The reaction of successive governments, their officials and agencies to these harmless protests to seek justice has been rather surprising, shocking, undemocratic and baffling. The major indigenous political party in Togoland, the Togoland Congress, was banned and outlawed under the Avoidance of Discrimination Act.
This did not stop the protests. So the government of Dr. Nkrumah passed the Preventive Detention Act to drive into exile and/or arrest and imprison without trial the leaders of the Togoland Congress. Still the protests did not end.
So General Acheampong passed the Supreme Military Council Decree (SMCD20) in 1976 to further oppress, repress, humiliate, intimidate and prosecute the people. Despite its severity, repressive and draconian nature the decree could not stop the protests.
What it succeeded in doing was to drive the protests underground. That is the state of affairs as of now. The protests seem to be coming from underground and occasionally pop up. But SMCD20 has been a real democracy and free expression killer. It has completely killed freedom of association and of thought.
It must be repealed to allow for free movement and discussion on the Togoland issue. Even as of now, today, people are being humiliated, intimidated, arrested and prosecuted under SMCD20. But frankly the people of Togoland feel really cheated and short-changed and who can stop them from protesting if democratic and constitutional avenues are closed and denied them.
They also have blood flowing in their veins! So is it fair to call them secessionists? Calling them secessionists or visiting humiliation, violence and intimidation on them will not solve the problem because that action lacks logic and it is simply myopic.
Governments of Ghana, their officials and agencies must accept the fact that Britain committed a very serious political and legal error or blunder for turning a Union into forcible integration.
Ghana has been independent for 67 years and it must have the tolerance, courage, maturity and capacity to correct the blunder committed by Britain, peacefully and under due process.
Avoidance of Discrimination Act (ADA), Prevention Detention Act (PDA) and SMCD20 are terrible repressive laws,/ but they cannot stop the people of Togoland from protesting because the injustice meted out to them was just unfair and too much.
Governments of Ghana have realized the shortcomings of these pernicious laws and they have been accused of trying to use misinformation, outright lies and propaganda to reinforce them. This is done by brainwashing the people of British Togoland to feel that they are inferior and foreigners on their own land; that Trans-Volta/Togoland and Volta Region are the same as British Togoland which, of course, is not true.
Governments of Ghana are also strongly suspected to plant or sponsor countervailing dissident groups to use violence and undermine the unity and peace of the people and to serve as a pretext for sending security forces to British Togoland to harass, humiliate and intimidate the people.
Can you believe it that some of these countervailing dissident groups, led by people from outside British Togoland, claim that Western Togoland includes Anlo, Tongu and Peki areas which have always been part of the Gold Coast? Of course, this must be a deliberate ploy to distort, confuse and mislead the public.
The new trend is to make the Togoland issue a scarecrow to frighten people from exercising their voting rights at general elections. Certainly, these nefarious activities are the handiwork of desperate, ruthless people and they are not initiated by peace loving and law-abiding people of British Togoland.
It is quite clear that the people of British Togoland will never accept forcible integration that was imposed on them by Britain and, therefore, will not stop protesting despite the wicked laws, misinformation, distortions and false propaganda. Their cause is legitimate and just and, therefore, there is no time limit for the protests, of course, until the Ghana-British Togoland Union is legitimately established.
What the people of Togoland want is Ghana-British Togoland Union that they voted for on May 9 1956, and approved by UN Res. 1044(XI).
This Union should be properly established and should be backed by a Union Document or Agreement with clearly defined rights and obligations for partners (Ghana & British Togoland) in the Union.
Presently such a sane legal document does not exist, that is, to quote the Office of Legal Affairs of the UN and Ghana’s Attorney-General.
Those who claim a Union Document/Agreement/Deal exists should prove its existence. Conventional Wisdom is in support of the proper establishment of this legal Union. It is quite obvious that the establishment of this legal Union will strengthen rather than weaken Ghana.
(BY KOSI KEDEM, Former MP for Hohoe South)
Editor’s note: Views expressed in this article do not represent that of The Chronicle
