07 March, 2023
SUBJECT: Communique
Dear Friends of the Media
RE: 66TH INDEPENDENCE ANNIVERSARY SPEECH BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF GHANA
With reference to some portions of the speech delivered by the President of the Republic of Ghana, H. E Nana Akufo Addo on the occasion of Ghana’s 66th independence day celebration held on Monday March 6th at Adaklu- Tsrefe near Ho in the Volta region, the People’s Liberation Council (PLC) of Western Togoland wishes to correct some misrepresentations and erroneous impressions captured in the opening paragraphs of the speech as follows:
• President Nana Akufo Addo stated in his speech that “an important historical fact is that, of all the different peoples that have formed our modern nation, it was only the people of the Volta, Oti, and part of the current Northern Regions who had the unique opportunity to choose to join the territory that became Ghana at independence……. .”
1. The PLC wishes to congratulate President Akufo Addo for telling the truth on one hand that Ghana and Western Togoland ( British Togoland) are two different states but his
assertion that the people of Western Togoland had the unique opportunity to choose to join the Gold Coast, does not represent the facts on the ground. This is so because, the people of the territories mentioned by him, did not just choose to join an independent Gold Coast at the dawn of that country’s independence. Indeed, the people of the territories mentioned agreed to participate in the Plebiscite having taken into consideration the fact that there was a resolution churned out by all parties involved in the issues of the time including governments and leaders of both sides, political parties and other interest groups, the British government and the United Nations which gave the territories mentioned in trust to be administered by the British under the common name of British Togoland or Western Togoland.
This resolution (UN Resolution 1044 XI)of 13 December 1956 which actually recommended a UNION between the then Gold Coast and British Togoland was only put on paper but oddly enough for over 6 decades the resolution was never implemented and so it cannot be said that the people of the territories mentioned had the unique opportunity to choose to join Ghana at independence, when indeed there was no such official UNION formed ever since.
What best can be said is that the British Togoland territory which the President of Ghana alluded to was forcefully annexed and by extension re-colonized by the clandestined moves of Ghana’s first President Dr Kwame Nkrumah backed by his British and UN collaborators clearly subverting the will of the people of the territory which was an overwhelming vote to join their territory by UNION with an independent Gold Coast with equal opportunities, freedoms and liberties.
• The manifest aspirations of the people of British Togoland at the time was to be recognized by the international community as a separate non-colonized nation united with the then Gold Coast which was to attain it’s independence from colonial Britain a year after the infamous Plebiscite of May 9, 1956.
The fact that successive governments of Ghana have over the years tried to massage the truth and to continue to throw dust in the eyes of the good people of that country and the people of Western or British Togoland in the matter of the Plebiscite and it’s aftermath, leaves much to be desired.
NB:
The PLC requires answers to the following questions;
1. Does an expression of interest to form a political UNION result in a political UNION ?
2 . Can the government of Ghana produce a legally binding union agreement between the two countries establishing that UNION ?
President Akufo Addo agreed that Western Togoland joined Ghana after her independence, but where is the agreement establishing that UNION?
The people of Western Togoland are tired of being used as under wears when it pleases Ghana for the past 6 decades and over.
3. Is there a RATIFIED union constitution between the two countries ? Because no two nations can be joined in UNION without a ratified constitution setting out guidelines to be followed by the two parties.
4. If there is anything like the UNION President Akufo Addo refered to, why is there nothing like a UNION day set aside to be observed by the two parties to the UNION, but only an independence day for Ghana which the people of Western Togoland are forced to honor for well over 6 decades and counting?
5. Was there ever a constituted council of representatives from Western Togoland with whom the government of the then Gold Coast had any negotiations and agreements with prior to that country’s independence to become modern day Ghana?
In the absence of the above, it is only prudent to say that, Ghana has been illegally occupying British/Western Togoland for 66 years, exploiting it’s people with impunity and disregard to their rights, privileges and liberties. We at the PLC call on all discerning Togolanders to ponder over these questions as we continue to press for the restoration of our rights privileges and liberties enshrined in all democratic institutions across the world.
We demand equal rights and justice for our people by the enactment of a proper written MOU between Western Togoland and Ghana.
The PLC is still of the strong view that the resolution forming that UNION between Ghana and Western Togoland should necessarily be respected and implemented.
And not until such is done, the issue of Ghana and Western Togoland being united in purpose and strength will continue to be a mirage.
Let us be reminded once again that : THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE IS THE VOICE OF GOD !!!
LONG LIVE GHANA,
LONG LIVE WESTERN TOGOLAND,
LONG LIVE GHANA – WESTERN TOGOLAND UNION.
From: The Communications Bureau, PLC, Western Togoland.
