The Dean of Academic Affairs at the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College (GAFCSC), Dr Vladimir Antwi-Danso has said there is no clause in the agreement signed between the then Gold Coast and the French Togoland for the latter to break away from Ghana after 50 years despite agreeing through a plebiscite to become part of independent Gold Coast in 1956.

His comment comes as secessionist groups such as Western Togoland Restoration Front and Home Study Group Foundation (HSGF) among others in the Volta Region have intensified their call for independence away from Ghana through violent activities.

Last week, members of HSGF blocked roads leading to the region, hoisted their flags, captured three Police officers and exchanged gunfire with security agencies as parts of agitation for independence from Ghana.

In the early hours of Tuesday, 29 September, a group suspected to be members of the Western Togoland attacked the STC yard in Ho and burnt two of their buses as part of their attempts for independence.

The narrative has been that the French Togoland could break away from Ghana after years of independence according to a treaty they signed with the League of Nations and the Gold Coast ahead of independence.

But reacting to this development, Dr Antwi-Danso noted on the Executive Breakfast Show (EBS) on Class91.3FM on Tuesday, 29 September 2020 that history has been distorted.

According to him, no part of the treaty talks about the French Togoland breaking away from Ghana after 50 years.

He further told show host Abdul Karim Ibrahim that the narrative that all Ewe’s want to secede was also false.

“Unknown to many of us check the then map before the plebiscite; the Tongu area and the Anlo area all the way to Peki was in Gold Coast already. It is being made as if all our brothers and sisters Ewe land wants some kind of secession and that all Ewe land was part of the Trans Volta Togoland, that’s false.

“If you check the map, you’ll see that Keta and others were all part of Gold Coast already so they didn’t take part in the plebiscite,” Dr Antwi-Danso stated.



He continued: “The second one is that there is a clause in the agreement which stated that 50 years after the marriage they could abrogate the marriage; that’s not true… A treaty is the first point of call when you’re talking about international law and it will tell you that, that is never how to write a treaty.”

According to Dr Antwi-Danso, in writing a treaty, “you state the terms of how to abrogate the treaty so it is false, it is not true that there is a clause that allows them to move away. That’s false,” he stressed.

Dr Antwi-Danso, therefore, described the actions of the separatists as “pure terrorism” and called on all Ghanaians to condemn it while the state security brings the perpetrators to book because they pose a grave danger to lives and properties.