Ghanaian Times: Western Togoland action deserves thorough investigation

The action of the Western Togoland group last Friday unsurprisingly has occupied the media space and everybody is talking about it.

Although the action is not the first by the group (they have been arrested for similar offence before), Friday’s action of blocking roads and preventing people from moving from Accra to the Volta Region and vice versa is the most daring of all their activities since they started their separatist agitations few years back.

The Ghanaian Times is as surprised as many others that the separatists could operate unhindered in the region without being found out and the surprise element in that operation has sent many others asking questions about the security apparatus and the motive of the separatists.

At least, at the time of going to press yesterday, several chiefs had issued statements condemning Friday’s development in the Volta Region.

For example, Togbega Tsedze Atakora VII, the Paramount Chief of Alavanyo Traditional Area, Awoamefia of the Anlo State, Togbi Sri III, and the chiefs and elders of the Gbi-Hohoe, led by Togbe Adzima V, spokesperson of the Gbi Traditional Council, all condemned the action and disassociated themselves from the activities of the secessionist group.

They expressed concern about the activities of the group because they had the potential to destabilise the region.

They, therefore, called on the government to deal with those involved in such a heinous crime according to the laws of Ghana without fear or favour.

In a similar vein, the National House of Chiefs has also described the activities of the separatists as alarming and should not be condoned by anyone.

“The chiefs find it very alarming and require the support of all of us to ensure that this does not escalate any further so that our country would remain a peaceful nation it has always been,” President of the House, Togbe Afede XIV, said at a meeting with the National Security Minister, Albert Kan-Dapaah.

It is obvious from the reaction of everyone that majority of Ghanaians are against the separatists and for us to stop them immediately, we call for a thorough investigations to be conducted into their activities in order to get the full understanding of what they want.

We are baffled that our security apparatus appears not to be taken seriously by the group, which has emboldened them to sustain what they have been doing in the past few months.

We therefore urge the government, particularly the National Security, to take the matter seriously and investigate it very quickly so that we can collectively nip in the bud the activities of the separatist group.