Lawyer calls for public treason trial for members of Western Togoland group

Private legal practitioner Nii Kpakpo Samoa Addo has recommended a public treason trial for members of the secessionists groups who are currently in the grip of the police.

Samoa Addo said on Citi FM last Saturday that if adopted, the practice will serve a deterrent to other members of the group or anyone with such a mindset.

According to him, public treason trials for the members will be an indication of the government’s strong stance on the issue.

“People perhaps don’t realise that because we don’t have treason trials in Ghana often, people don’t understand the serious consequences that go with being tried for treason,” the lawyer said.

He added that, “Maybe when we do one or two of these trials publicly, it will send the necessary messages that if you are a young person in that area and you engage yourself in these things, you will have problems.

“If you go to these camps and you cannot, as a young person see that what you are about to get yourself into is a problem, then we deal with you.”

Nii Kpakpo Samoa Addo also criticised the Volta Regional Minister, Archibald Yao Letsa, for failing to show leadership with regards to the secessionist issue.

He called for his resignation and also demanded sanctions for other persons responsible for security in the Volta Region.

“At the minimum, the Volta Regional Minister should have gone because he failed. It is on his watch that this activity happened. It is a major security failure,” he said.

He continued: “Anyone connected with the security architecture in the Volta Region has questions to answer because, at the minimum, intelligence should have picked up the fact that something like this was going to happen.