Akufo-Addo ‘encouraged’ by Volta chiefs’ rejection of secessionist group
The president, Nana Akufo-Addo, has thanked the chiefs of the Avenor Traditional Council of the Volta Region for their support in Ghana’s fight against separatist and secessionist sentiments and groups.
Receiving a delegation of chiefs from the council earlier in the week at the Jubilee House, the president condemned attempts by some, including the Homeland Study Group, who have clamoured to seize living as Ghanaians.
This was after the chiefs continued to pledge their help as opinion leaders in making sure the ambition of the separatists does not materialise.
“I am encouraged by your denunciation of the secession by these misguided people in the Volta Region. The Ghana we have is made up of different people. We must all be bound together by our loyalty, recognising our differences as a strength. So those who don’t understand this; do not understand nation-building,” Akufo-Addo stated.
The visit seems to add to the relationship the president has cultivated with the Avenor Traditional Council in the last few years.
In December last year, the Paramount Chief of the Avenor Traditional Area, Togbe Dorglo Anumah VI, commended the Akufo-Addo administration on its efforts to bring infrastructural development to the people of the Volta Region.
The chief mentioned the elevation of the Akachi South District to a Municipality as well as a number of ongoing works in the area as one of the reasons to bid kudos to the president. Togbe Dorglo Anumah VI also late praised the ministerial appointments of Dr Archibald Letsa and John Peter Amewu as important to “positively impact the lives” of the people in his region.
The Homeland Study Group
The Homeland Study Group Foundation, a group championing the secession of parts of Ghana along the border with Togo, declared independence for the territory they call ‘Western Togoland’ on November 16, last year.
The leader of Western Togoland independence, Charles Kormi Kudzodzi, announced the separation of Western Togoland from Ghana after a meeting in the Volta Regional capital, Ho.
After that announcement, the police arrested some members of the group. Their leader has since been on the run.
On December 30, 2019, the Northern Regional Police arrested 18 people suspected to be part of the separatist group.
The arrest followed intelligence that some members of the alleged separatist group from Kpassa were holding a meeting in a primary school in Bimbila, to recruit some youth to assist in their secessionist activities.
A joint military and police team was then deployed to the scene to arrest the 18 people.
On December 1, last year, the police in the Upper East Region also arrested 10 people said to be connected to the secessionist group.
The suspects were rounded up in an operation in Tumu in the Sissala East District.