Western Togoland: 5 Members Of Popular Secessionist Group Jailed 5 Years Each

• Five members of the Western Togoland Restoration Front have been jailed after they were arrested in 2022
• They were arrested for attacking the Aveyime and Mepe police stations, all in the Volta Region, and blocking the road
• They were each sentenced to five years in jail with hard labour by the Criminal Division of the High Court

Five members of a separatist group in Ghana called the Western Togoland Restoration Front have been handed a five-year jail sentence each for crimes the court says breached the criminal code.

They were arrested in 2020 after they attacked the Aveyime and Mepe police stations, all in the Volta Region.

The five were also among a group of Western Togoland secessionists who blocked the main road linking Accra to Aveyime with sand.

According to a Joy News report, on March 17, 2023, Justice Mary Maame Ekue Yanzuh, presiding over the Criminal Division of the High Court in Accra found the five guilty of offences contrary to the Prohibited Organisations Act 1976.

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They will all serve their sentences with hard labour.

The five jailed members of the separatist group are as follows:

1. Ebenezer Gblorkpor
2. Afetorgbor Kpogo
3. Joseph Nyamewu
4. Wisdom Kuvor
5. Israel Bessah Kpexor

Western Togoland Restoration Front is an offshoot of the Homeland Study Group founded by Charles Komi Kudzordzi, popularly known as Papavi.

Papavi died in 2021 at the Keta Government Hospital at the age of 88 years.

Papavi and his Homeland Study Group had been demanding the secession of what was once called Western Togoland, an area that borders parts of the Oti, Volta and North East regions of Ghana.

He was arrested and charged with treason for his secessionist agitations but was granted bail due to old age and health concerns.

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Western Togoland agitations, Bawku conflict increase Ghana’s risk of terrorist attacks

YEN.com.gh reported in 2022 that a report found that Ghana risks terrorist attacks due to existing triggers that have remained unresolved for many years.

The West Africa Centre for Counter-Extremism mentioned the Bawku Conflict and the Western Togoland issue as very dangerous for Ghana's security.

The report explained that with their huge exploitative capacity, extremists descending on Ghana and other coastal countries in the sub-region could take advantage of existing threats.

Source: YEN.com.gh