Olympio accuses Ghana govt of mass expulsion of Togolese exiles

Exiled Togolese opposition leader, Gilchrist Olympio, now based in Paris, has fired salvos from the French capital against the Ghanaian government.

In a release made available to the press dated the 10th of October 2003, Mr. Olympio accused the government of President John Agyekum Kufuor of carrying out a policy of systematic expulsion of Togolese political exiles living in Ghana.

The leader of one of Togo’s largest opposition parties, the Union of Forces for Change, (UFC) which has the Party of Forces for Change, (the PFC) as its proxy, lamented what he described as “the close collaboration between President John Kufuor of Ghana and Gnassingb? Eyad?ma of Togo” since the former came to power three years ago.

“Eyad?ma has very strong links of collaboration with the current government of Ghana, and based upon these links, certain Togolese exiles have been expelled from Ghana, some to Togo, while others have been sent to other neighbouring countries”, Mr. Olympio said.

The Togolese leader expressed cold comfort about the continued security co-operation existing between the two countries.

“We have also observed a very strong link of co-operation between the two countries on the security level,” he declared.

Mr. Olympio told PANA that, “we are worried about this type of security co-operation.”

Gilchrist Olympio did not give the names of Togolese exiles expelled from Ghana by the Kufuor administration but said under the government of the NDC, ex-President Jerry John Rawlings never carried out such “coercive measures against Togolese exiles.”

Mr. Olympio was himself a beneficiary of the economic largesse of the Rawlings regime whose dispensation provided the Togolese exiled leader with a Ghanaian Diplomatic passport. The passport has been withdrawn by the Kufuor administration.

In addition, Mr. Olympio was also a beneficiary of the Rawlings government’s questionable State Enterprises Divestiture programme which virtually ceded to him generously, the Aboso Glass Factory “under doubtful circumstances.” So far, there is no evidence that Mr. Olympio satisfied conditions for the company’s acquisition.

Mr. Olympio who made Ghana and Britain his second home, left Ghana two years ago after his diplomatic passport was withdrawn, leaving behind him a staggering debt of millions of cedis of unpaid electric bills and expropriated workers’ salaries.

Ghana, Togo, Nigeria and Benin operate under a Quadripartite agreement which ensures close co-operation on security matters, especially armed cross-border crimes, illegal trafficking in drugs, robberies, and car stealing syndicates.

Recently, a joint Togo and Ghana police operation arrested in Togo, a notorious Ghanaian jail breaker, John Malm, alias Baby Nii.

Last Sunday, it was the turn of the Ghanaian section of Interpol to grab in Accra, Altine Yembandjoi Barque, a would-be assassin of M. Barry Moussa Barque, Special Adviser to President Eyadema.

Mr. Barque was stabbed with a knife three times by his nephew, Altine, while the Special Adviser was asleep in his bedroom.

He has since been flown to a Paris hospital for urgent medical treatment.

Last September, ECOWAS joint security co-operation yielded positive results when Niger Interpol apprehended Tidjani Amani, believed to be the crime Boss of the sub-regional Mafia in connection with several cross-border criminal activities against Nigeria, stage-managed from neighbouring Republic of Benin