■Today, Saturday, 6th of March 2021 marks the 64th anniversary of the Western Togoland – Ghana Union. It is a mermorable day when children and adults of Ghana and Western Togolander should jubilate over a union that should make them a symbol of African Freedom and Unity.
■This has never occurred so simply because the authorities are hiding the malicious implications of celebrating the day as a Union Day.
■The higher impressions the Union Day could make on the citizens is completely eroded when is only celebrated as an independence for Ghana alone.
■But we cannot just change it overnight because there is much to be straightened before it could be celebrated as such.
All things being well, Ghanaians and Western Togolanders should be celebrating it every year as the most memorable day of thier UNION.
■Instead of the joy it should arouse in the people of both lands this day is quietly glossed over as insignificant because it would rather revoke remorse at the circumstances surrounding the unionisation of Western Togoland and Ghana on the eve of March 5th/6th, 1957.
■Whereas it was recorded at the United Nations that the Union became established on Ghana’s Independence Day, the people on the ground are fully aware that it was not true.
■The fact that it is not celebrated as such also confirms the falsehood of the confirmation of the union as indicated in the letter from the U.K. Secretary of State for the Colonies, Sir Allan Noble (T1301/1) on 6 March 1957.
■What Britain could not put on record at the UN
was that the forces of Britain’s colony, Gold Coast invaded Western Togoland on the 4th of March 1957. An event that went on while U.K. was still holding Western Togoland in trust for the U.N.
■The contents of that deceptive letter to the U.N. could have been verified by the U.N. whose duty it was to make due diligence on the administration of her Trust Territory but an error occurred. This has left families, townships and kingdoms in protracted bitterness which is revived at any celebration of Ghana’s Independence Day. Diplomatically, the people hide their bitterness and join Ghana in celebrating her independence but it never brought any sense of shame to the conscience of the authorities in Ghana, Britain and the United Nations that human blood was unduly spilt and a sham independence was established.
■Although, the voiceless are suppressed and subdued to remain quiet, all the processed leading to Ghana’s independence was tooted as such without the mention of Togoland Under British Administration. It was therefore not a mistake for the British Government to inform the U.N. that Ghana was becoming independent on the 6th of March 1957 and entering into a Union with Western Togoland. But wait a minute to answer these questions:
1. Why did the British Colonial government not inform the people of Ghana and Western Togoland about this arrangement?
2. Are Ghanaians also aware that they are in a union after becoming independent.
3. Has there British Colonial government prepared Western Togolanders as she did to the people of Ghana.
4. What then was the status of Western Togoland when Gold Coast was declared to become independent?
5. Does it not mean that Western Togoland was already independent to come into a Union with the newly independent state Ghana’s?
6. Why then did the British Colonial government not establish a government for Western Togoland to enter the said union in a civilized manner.
7. Was this arrangement meant to establish peaceful coexistence or chaos.
8. To whose benefit is that union?
Our dear viewers, Britian took Administration of Western Togoland by the promptings of the League Nations but what role can we point out that Britain played for the social, economic and political development of Western Togoland from 1922 to 1957?
The period saw three major invents:
▪The Mandate of League of Nations (1922 – 1945),
▪The second World War (1939 – 1945)
▪The Trusteeship of the United Nations (1946 and beyond).
●The non political development of Western Togoland by Britain clearly defines how Britain was not able to prepare a political leadership to run the so-called UNION she declared to the U.N. in 1957.
●Visibly, there is no footprint of Britain to merit her Administration of Western Togoland to the extent of forming a Union with her crown colony Gold Coast naw called Ghana.
The best known developmental attempt by Britain in the territory was to construct the Akosombo Dam which was rejected on three occasions by the League of Nations based on the tenets of the Mandated Territories Agreement under which Britain administered Western Togoland.
■This failure of Britain’s socio-economic, political and infrastructural development triggered Kwame Nkrumah’s nationalistic pressure with the slogan of SELF GOVERNMENT NOW.
■The intense pressure from Kwame Nkrumah frustrated Britian from putting in place the necessary arrangements for the running of the well meant UNION of WESTERN TOGOLAND AND GHANA.
■As we celebrate Ghana’s 64th Independence Day, which also marks the 64th anniversary of the prescribed UNION OF GHANA AND WESTERN TOGOLAND we wish Ghana a happy Independence Day and Western Togoland an active preparation for her centenary next year. May you be guided by lawfulness and love of nation, honesty and morality and protection of the future of the peoples in everything you do to establish a noble state in the UNION OF GHANA AND WESTERN TOGOLAND.
Thank you.
