Volta, Oti chiefs disown Western Togoland

The Volta Regional House of Chiefs has disassociated itself from persons who have declared independence for an area they are calling “Western Togoland” which includes parts of the Volta and the Oti regions.

After its last sitting for the year, held last Thursday, members of the House unanimously declared that they owed allegiance to the sovereign state of Ghana.

This was contained in a press statement signed by the Paramount Chief of the Likpe Traditional Area and President of the Volta Regional House of Chiefs, Nana Soglo Alloh IV, and issued after the sitting.

We’re Ghanaians

"The membership of the Volta Regional House of Chiefs has received news of the declaration of independence of a Western Togoland that is alleged to include parts of the Volta and the Oti regions and some part of the Northern Region".

"The Volta Regional House of Chiefs wishes to make it categorically clear that the Volta and the Oti regions and their chiefs and people remain a part of the sovereign state of Ghana, and, as such, continue to be and remain Ghanaians, and will continue to owe their allegiance to the sovereign state of Ghana," the statement said.

The chiefs held that the group had no basis at all to declare independence, as some of the areas, such as the southern part of the Volta and the Oti regions like Peki and Tongu areas were not even part of the Western Togoland.

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In addition, the statement said, the group could not also hold themselves to be the mouthpiece of communities that fell under the said Western Togoland, since they had not expressed any desire to be independent.

Referendum

On the cancellation of the referendum regarding whether or not political parties should sponsor candidates in local level elections, the House commended the President of the National House of Chiefs and Agbogbomefia of the Asogli State, Togbe Afede XIV, for his firm stance on a "No Vote" in the referendum before it was called off.

According to the House, Togbe Afede had raised the bar of chieftaincy high and thus the need to support such lofty causes anytime the need arose.

The chiefs stressed the need for all chiefs and opinion leaders to support decisions that went to benefit the country and enhance community development.

Development agents

For his part, Togbe Afede called on the house to consider bringing development to the doorstep of their people and ensure that their traditional areas were developed.

The Homeland Study Group Foundation, led by 83-year-old Charles Kormi Kudzordzi, has been championing an agenda to declare parts of the Volta and the Oti regions a sovereign state, with the name ‘Western Togoland’.

The group has been in the news over the past two years, having engaged in several brushes with the law on the matter.

Background

On November 16, 2019, the leader, with about 100 people in attendance at Moleme in Ho, unlawfully declared the Volta Region as a sovereign state of Western Togoland.

Following the declaration, seven persons were arrested and put before court for the offence of treason.

On December 4, the police arrested 21 members of the Homeland Study Group Foundation championing the agenda of Western Togoland in Ho.

The suspects were said to be planning a demonstration following the arrest and detention of seven members of the group.

Their leader, Kudzordzi, is still at large.