THE FIRST EUROPEAN CONFERENCE ON WESTERN TOGOLAND.
22 December 2018
THEME: Rebuilding Western Togoland in to a noble State-what can you do?
WELCOME ADDRESS BY DIVINE OCQUAYE ODONKOR, SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE PEOPLES’ LIBERATION COUNCIL OF WESTERN TOGOLAND
Chairman, distinguished guests and all you human rights enthusiasts, my heart is elated this day for coming to the recognition of the fact that we are not alone in the struggle to restore human dignity in creation. I am extremely happy to have you all present here for this conference.
I strongly believe that by the close of this conference we shall all come out resolved to empower the Peoples’ Liberation Council of Western Togoland to facilitate the process of establishing a constitutionally elected government for Western Togoland so that the state of helplessness and hopelessness in which it has been embedded for over a century now will be wiped away.
Why am I saying so?
Mr. Chairman, history establishes the fact that Western Togoland became a separate state at the beginning of the First World War. A condition that disrupted the progress of Togoland when it was advancing in civilization with the collaboration of Germany. History made it clear that Western Togoland became recognized by the League of Nations and later by the United Nations. History reveals the metamorphic stages and the accompanying pains through which Western Togoland has gone through till this day.
Contemporary events are persistently revealing the rate at which the existence of Western Togoland is being seriously threatened. Mr. Chairman and all lovers of world peace and human dignity, I wish to register my passionate plea to all of you to let the whole world caution Ghana that her operations in Western Togoland is becoming a threat to world peace, similar to what happened in 1914 which we do not want again today. It is true that Togoland had no army at that time so Britain and France had it cheap. It is also true that Western Togoland has no army now but that must not encourage Ghana to continue her aggression and to repeat the wrong past.
Current affairs clearly spell out Ghana’s intention of inciting violence in order to make Western Togoland ungovernable in the very near future although we are rather extending loving arms to Ghana while she is still threatening our security
We of the Peoples’ Liberation Council of Western Togoland have the strongest conviction that Western Togoland and Ghana shall become the best example of a union the world longs to see. Therefore, this agenda must not be destroyed by lust instead of love.
And to our own citizens who are afraid of losing their interests in Ghana if we should have our own government, Mr. Chairman, kindly let them know that the path of the PLC will rather let them enjoy their wealth and health in Ghana with blessings instead of the accompanying curses from the lamentations of their suffering kith and kin.
Mr. Chairman, let us humbly appeal to the teaming masses of suffering Western Togolanders to exercise the power of good volition without being sentimentally influenced by the evils of past and present colonists activities that seek to divert us from the honour of nobility.
We cannot so soon forget our colonial past when we had to bear the brunt of a war of which we played no part in its cause. We cannot forget the good intentions exhibited in the various resolutions and acts of the world bodies that established the fact that Western Togolanders too deserve equal rights as all other human beings.
We are aware that there is only one limitation for Western Togoland to be run as a state. That limitation is :- HAVING A GOVERMENT OF ITS OWN!
Although we can refer to this limitation as a machination of the colonialists, we cannot stop at that and refuse to move forward.
In this our endeavour to move forward, the Peoples’ Liberation Council of Western Togoland has decided to appeal to all Western Togolanders to do away with all the bitter past and keep their eyes on the theme of this conference: “REESTABLISHING WESTERN TOGOLAND INTO A NOBLE STATE – WHAT CAN YOU DO?”.
Mr. Chairman, Comrades and our loving observers the world over, you can bear with me that the path chosen by the People’s Liberation Council of Western Togoland is not a common one. We are very much aware of the pains in the hearts of those feeling oppressed in their own homeland. We are also aware of the many ways other countries managed to wrestle state power for themselves. We are still witnessing how most of those countries are still under colonial domination although they bear the accolade of a republic.
Mr. Chairman, we do not want to follow the same path that led other states into the woeful conditions in which they are today. This is why we have chosen to “MAKE USE OF WHAT WE HAVE IN ORDER TO SECURE WHATEVER WE DESERVE”. As such, our first assurance is in the human resources of today. We wish to mobilise all available human resources for restoration of our statehood and development of Western Togoland into a noble state. We have therefore established a Secretariat at Ho, in Western Togoland for executing our objectives. We have also established an NGO in Ghana to prosecute our agenda for the liberation and development of Western Togoland. We are encouraging mass mobilization for liberation and development. We are engaged in advocacy for good governance, education, development and gender issues. We have also initiated a legal action for restoration of our human dignity which alone paves the way for us to thread the path we have chosen to guide Western Togoland through.
Instead of a confrontational approach we want to proceed on the path of a negotiated approach to establish Western Togoland as a noble state in the first nations of the world within the shortest possible time. Mr. Chairman, we need faithful diplomats and all experts in nation building as well as all hands on deck to come into play.
We are sure that this path will certainly avoid bloodshed, ennoble our people and make even the apparent enemies of our state become loving part players in the process of REESTABLISHING WESTERN TOGOLAND AS A NOBLE STATE.
Mr. Chairman, I hope by the end of today’s conference we shall resolve to bring on board all identifiable groups of Western Togoland in the diaspora so that with the FREE AND PRIOR INFORMED CONCENT of the Peoples back home, we shall guide them into securing their state power in a constitutionally established manner.
Mr. Chairman, I wish to emphasize that this is an uncommon path but it will lead to an uncommon form of nobility for which Western Togoland shall be noted in the records of all existence. And Western Togoland shall not be a sham republic ruled by a sham government to the benefit of a remote financier whose delight is to capitalize on the ignorance of some selfish leaders who can be influenced to think that so long as they are of a higher status than others then everything is fine.
Mr. Chairman, the theme is rightly chosen to demand of us all to do something, so I shall pause here and let others come in to make my submission complete. But before then I wish to express to you all my healthy, hearty welcome to The First European Conference on Western Togoland being held here in Amsterdam.
THANK YOU.
