April 17, 2024
For Immediate Release
THE GHANA/WESTERN TOGOLAND CONUNDRUM: UNDERSTANDING THE DYNAMICS
The People’s Liberation Council, Western Togoland wishes to once again clarify some of the dynamics pertaining to its incessant call on the current Government of the republic of Ghana to take the needed steps to regularise the UNION between Ghana and British Togoland as contained in the United Nations (UN) Resolution 1044(XI) of 13th December 1956, passed at its General Assembly sitting, prior to the infamous 1956 Plebiscite which has become the basis of all the back and forth between Ghana and Western Togoland and it’s people all these decades.
This resolution stated in part that the UN,
1. “Expresses it’s approval of the UNION of the Territory of Togoland under British administration with an independent Gold Coast and accordingly invites the administering authority to take such steps as are necessary to this end.”
2. “Resolves with the agreement of the Administering Authority that on the date the Gold Coast becomes independent and the UNION with it of the Territory of Togoland under British administration takes place, the Trusteeship Agreement approved by the General Assembly in Resolution 63 (1) of 13 December, 1946 shall cease to be in force, the objectives of Trusteeship having been attained.”
3. “Requests the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to notify the Secretary General as soon as the Union of the Territory of Togoland under British administration and an independent Gold Coast has been effected.”
4. “Requests the Secretary General to communicate to all Member States and the Trusteeship Council at its Nineteenth Session, the notification by the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.”
The PLC is quoting these portions of the Resolution above to inform our cherished readers that from the very onset, the Government of Great Britain and the UN have already agreed and mapped out a strategy for the Union between an independent Gold Coast and British Togoland which was to be adhered to by all parties involved in the process.
But the fact still remains that all these protocols and agreements were not followed by the Administering Authority, Great Britain and the Gold Coast, leading to the current state of affairs – The Ghana – British Togoland Conundrum.
It is however important to note that, whiles the PLC has over the past years been calling for the regularization of the UNION between Ghana and Western Togoland, other schools of thought have misconstrued that as a call for a secession of Western Togoland from Ghana.
Many people, including the Government of Ghana have argued that the so called UNION being trumpeted by the PLC has since the dawn of the Gold Coast’s Independence been effected.
However, the question that remains unanswered is whether there is a UNION Agreement signed between Ghana and Western Togoland to warrant the these claims and the subsequent backlash.
Kelvin Taylor the renowned Ghanaian broadcaster recently made a video in which he sought to throw more light on the issue and the PLC wishes to commend him for the insight and urge all discerning minds to continue to follow his updates on the issue to ascertain the facts for themselves.
Indeed, as Kelvin Taylor pointed out, the Queen of England was aware that the people of British Togoland had never been colonized by Britain and that her government did not have and cannot lay any claims to the Territory under her government’s Administration – how can a Territory which had never experienced Colonization be said to be independent? British Togoland had been an independent territory, long before the Gold Coast got its independence from British rule. Infact, there are numerous documents in the possession of the PLC from the British Parliament and the UN archives to this effect.
We wish to refer to a Hansard from the British Parliament dated 11th December 1956, available to the PLC that sought to throw more light on the whole Western Togoland – Ghana Conundrum before the then Gold Coast got its independence from Great Britain, which stated as follows:
“Her Majesty’s Government do not consider that the partitioning of the Gold Coast is in the interest of the Gold Coast as a whole or of any of its component parts and cannot abandon their established policy which is destined to the grant of independence to the Gold Coast as a whole – (Hansard, British Parliament,
11th December 1956)
Indeed, this was tabled before the British House of Commons, four months to the independence of the Gold Coast. In all of these, there has been no mention of Togoland under British Administration as an integral part of the Gold Coast which meant that the Queen and the British Administration were aware of the status of British Togoland as a separate Territory, although it was administered under them as an integral part of the Gold Coast. It therefore suggests that, should any people be claiming sovereignty or pressing for their rights as to a UNION for which all evidence points to, then it should be the people of British Togoland.
No one should be intimidating any citizen of Western Togoland and sending them to prison for pointing out facts and setting the records straight.
The government of the Republic of Ghana should be seen to be dialoguing with the people of Western Togoland and finding workable solutions to all these back and forth, rather than the intimidations, harassment and incarceration of Western Togoland citizens who have just been calling for the restoration of their inalienable rights which have for decades been undermined by successive Governments of Ghana.
It is not far fetched that the agreement reached by the UN and the administering authority of Togoland under British administration, the British Government was for British Togoland to be joined in a UNION with an independent Gold Coast. This agreement came about as a result of the overwhelming vote in favour of the UNION after the Plebiscite. But as to whether the tenets of this agreement have been adhered to by all the parties to it and the UNION effected till date, the readers guesses are as good as that of the PLC.
Attached is an E- copy of the whole December, 1956 Hansard from the British House of Commons cited in this article for further insight on this Ghana – Western Togoland Brouhaha.
https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1956-12-11/debates/cb364c64-c220-438f-8c2a-b68856528213/GhanaIndependenceBill?highlight=%22affected%20by%20the%20bill%22
Issued by the Communications Bureau of the PLC, Western Togoland.
