Violent separatist activities should be treated as criminal – Togbe Hodo advises govt

Togbe Tepre Hodo IV, the Vice President of the Volta Regional House of Chiefs has advised the government to treat the recent activities by the suspected separatist groups in the Volta Region as criminal acts.

Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express Tuesday evening, Togbe Hodo IV indicated that violence should not be an avenue for the group to champion their grievances to the government but that they should find a proper way to bring their case up for redress.

“We need to start from the premise that what has happened or the events that have happened over the weekend and last night are all plain criminal acts. I think that’s the premise we should start all the talks [with],” he said.

Togbe Hodo IV’s comment comes on the back of recent clashes between a controversial and violent separatist group in the Volta Region.

The group on Tuesday dawn attacked the State Transport Company (STC) yard in the Volta Regional Capital, Ho, and burnt one of its buses.

The group is said to have fired gunshots before proceeding to beat up the drivers and the security officers at post.

This, the Volta Regional House of Chiefs Vice Chair believes, goes a long way to threaten the safety and livelihood of the people they claim to be fighting for, and it will be very difficult for the group to get the sympathy they need from the people of the Volta Region.

Togbe Hodo stated: “We live in a civilized society, and I think that [.....] people ought to [........] follow due process. The mere fact that they have resorted to these kinds of acts which are criminal in nature [........] makes it very difficult for anybody to even feel sympathy for them.” He further added: “That is the standing point of all these discussions because if you go on this kind of rampage, you cause bodily injuries to people, death has resulted, and innocent people have even been arrested.”

Togbe Hodo IV further described the group as terrorists due to the violence that they unleash on innocent people.

He emphasized that such activities threaten the peace Ghana has enjoyed since independence.

“I don’t think this kind of thing augurs well for any group of people who will want to be heard in our kind of democratic dispensation…we don’t want to go down that lane. We have lived in peace for how many years? So let us all agree at a certain point that [the] movement is criminal in nature and has to be seen as such,” Togbe Tepre Hodo IV said.