A group championing the secession of parts of Ghana along the border with Togo, has declared independence for the territory they call 'Western Togoland'.

The Homeland Study Group Foundation (HSGF) announced its separation on their official social media handles on Saturday, November 16, after a group meeting was held in Ho.

“Today the 16th of November 2019, the leader of Western Togoland independence Mr Charles Kormi Kudzodzi has announced the separation of Western Togoland from Ghana. He sighted numerous reasons as the bases for which the union that was not established must not be recognized. More information will soon reach the General public soon,” they wrote on Facebook.

HSGF has been demanding the secession of the Volta Region and parts of the Northern, North East and Upper East Regions from Ghana to become the Western Togoland state.

In May 2019, some members of the group were arrested by the police and charged with conspiracy to commit treason felony, abetment of unlawful training, unlawful assembly and offensive conduct conducive to the breach of peace.

The leader, 85-year-old Charles Kormi Kudzordzi along with eight others, were arrested by a combined team of police and military personnel at Ho on May 5 in a house, while holding a meeting to allegedly arrange to declare Western Togoland as an independent state on May 9, 20I9.

The group had designed their currency and their flag in anticipation of their independence. 

The accused were Mr Bisa Akorli, 54, Mr Kofi Dzereke, 39, Mr Thompson Tsigbe, 58, Mr Benjamin Agbadzada, 48, Mr Agbenyega Akudzi, 54, Mr Freemen Blikaku, 36, and Mr Nkpe Tsryiri Kudzo aged 61.

Mr Kudzordzi, who claims to have the history of the plebiscite that added Volta Region to Ghana at his fingertips, has championed the independence of the Volta Region from present-day Ghana.

According to him, residents of the Western Togoland voted to become a union with the Gold Coast (now Ghana) but the union had not been established up till now.

He explained that Ghana opted to be a unitary state under the plebiscite in 1956 [referendum] to be in union with a common constitution but with the WesternTogoland and the Gold Coast there had been no unionised constitution up to date.

It has been calling for the declaration of Western Togoland which is perceived as stretching from Kulungugu in the Upper East Region to Keta on the Southern coast by the Atlantic ocean, as a sovereign state.