14 ‘secessionists’ remanded

Some 14 suspected members of a secessionist group – Homeland Study Group Foundation (HSGF) – have been remanded in police custody pending a determination of their bail hearing.

The 14 were arrested in the Kpando Municipality of the Volta Region during a meeting where they were allegedly discussing strategies to destabilize the country.

The suspects, who were arrested by the military, were said to have in their possession documents detailing strategies they intend to use in staging an ‘uprising’ in areas they claim belong to what they call independent state of Western Togoland and not Ghana.

They were subsequently hauled before a court presided over by Felix Datsomor, who remanded them in police custody until June 15, 2020 to determine their application for bail.

Separatists

The separatist group, HSGF, has over the years been ‘championing’ the secession of the Volta Region from Ghana to form what it termed Western Togoland.

They claimed the continuous stay of the Volta Region under Ghana is illegal.

Bizarrely, they heighten their agitations only when the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is ruling.

They made a statement in March this year when they took down the Ghana flag at the Volta Regional Coordinating Council and hoisted their so-called flag instead.

Last year, eight persons believed to be leaders of a separatist group based in the Volta Region together with its founder, 81-year-old Charles Kormi Kudjordji, aka Papavi, were arrested and airlifted to Accra in a helicopter.

They were initially charged with treason felony but were later discharged as the state decided to drop the charges against them.

Another 21 persons believed to have been recruited into the military wing of the group were also arrested at Dzodze in April this year and brought to Accra for trial.

Twenty of them were discharged as investigations concluded that they were ‘victims of circumstances’ because the suspects had no idea they were being recruited into the guerilla army of the secessionist group.

However, one of the suspects, Anthony Dormekpo, is on trial for two counts of “to attend meeting of a prohibited organization” and “to participate in campaign of a prohibited organization.”

The accused, according to the prosecution, is a member of the prohibited group that recruited the other 20 individuals under the guise of protocol enlistment into the Ghana Armed Forces, while others were recruited to work on a farm allegedly owned by a ‘white man’.