Boni Yao Gebe
Dr. Yao Gebe, A senior research fellow at the Legon Center for International Affairs and Diplomacy, shares his research findings on the complex question of the Secessionist Movement in Ghana:
It is a fact that some of the current scattered Ewe communities across
the three modern states of Benin (Dahomey), Togo and Ghana once
lived in Notsie (thus Notsie Glime) in present day Togo around the 17th
century.70 However, due to the atrocities exacted by their King, Togbe
Agorkoli II, they dispersed and are currently domiciled as citizens
of the three modern states in the West African sub-region.71 Apart
from this, the closest was the unquenchable desire, yet justifiable,
as demonstrated by the people of Ho and Kpandu during the 1956
plebiscite. Led by the Togoland Congress, they were determined to
achieve a pan-Ewe nation in association with their counterparts in
Eastern Togoland.
Their position and decision was defeated even before the plebiscite
when they discarded the recommendation of the Visiting Mission to
allow the results of the four poling areas to be taken separately and
administered on a future determination. These two districts (Ho and
Kpandu) could never have represented the entire Ewe Nation, were
not the only people who participated in the plebiscite and their votes
were never adequate to curtail the decision of Great Britain. The union
between British Togoland and the Gold Coast was cemented in 1956
and the Trust Territory became an integral part of the Republic of
Ghana in 1957. There is no legal or constitutional basis for those who
have leveled charges against the UN and Great Britain for reneging on
an unproven compact of independence after 50 years.