‘9th May 2017 is OUR DAY’: The Homeland Study Group Foundation and contested national imaginaries in postindependence Ghana

Abstract

Ghana has been held up as an oasis of stability in a highly volatile region of Africa due to its peaceful decolonisation process, absence of serious civil conflict and successful change of governments. However, in Ghana as in parts of postindependence Africa, there are lingering secessionist movements that are a legacy of colonialism. The latest comes from the Homeland Study Group Foundation (HSGF) which declared the former British Togoland, a former United Nations trust territory administered by the United Kingdom, as an independent state called Western Togoland. Through the prism of competing or alternative national imaginaries rather than the weak and dysfunctional state paradigm, this article seeks to explain the roots of a form of Togoland nationalism in Ghana in events of 1956 that remains relevant today. The paper argues that an apparently successful integration can stimulate/give sustenance to alternative nationalist imaginaries.

Nationalist secessionism and global order: A comparison of the dynamics and impact of secession movements in Africa and Europe

“…The Western Togoland represents the long strip of North‐east and South‐east land mass of the Republic of Ghana—sandwiched between Lake Volta and the Ghana–Togo border. It covers present‐day Volta, Oti and parts Northern, North East, Upper East and Upper West Regions of Ghana (Adotey, 2022; Adu‐Gyamfi et al, 2021; Agbozo, 2018). The major portion of the territory first came under Germany's colonisation in 1884 after its incorporation into the German Togoland colony.…”

“…A plebiscite was organised in 1956, and 58% of the British Togolanders voted to join the Gold Coast. It is important to note, however, that the majority of the ‘Yes’ votes came from the northern part of the territory, while the southern half, mainly the Ewe, voted ‘No’, in attempts to reunite with the other Ewe groups located in the former French territories to the East of Ghana, that is Togo and Benin and other Ewe areas (mainly Anlo, Peki and Tongu) that were originally part of the Gold Coast and were disqualified from voting in the plebiscite meant for former German Togoland (Adotey, 2022). Yet, the vote outcome meant Western Togoland's unification with the Gold Coast and thus a unified independent Ghana in 1957, while French Togoland (Togo) got its self‐rule from France in 1960 (Agbozo, 2018; DW November, 2020).…”

“…These agitations gained momentum and led to major incidences such as the 9th May 2017 unsuccessful self‐declaration of independent Western Togoland (Boakye, 2020) and the 25th September 2020 dawn uprising. Although this pronouncement of self‐rule for the region of about four million people was not achieved, Western Togoland became a member state of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation (UNPO) (Adotey, 2022; Agbozo, 2018). Now, there is a growing number of splinter groups apart from the HSGF and WTRF, all demanding the sovereign state of Western Togoland.…”

“…The Western Togoland movement involves an attempt by some actors to attain independence for former German/ Western Togoland (later the British Togoland) and parts of the Gold Coast territory which together form an integral part of the Republic of Ghana (Adotey, 2022;Brown, 1980). Unlike the Cameroonian case, the Western Togoland secessionist movement in Ghana appears to pose much less human security threat, although this movement could feed into the spreading cross-border insecurity terrain in West Africa.…”

“…Although this pronouncement of self-rule for the region of about four million people was not achieved, Western Togoland became a member state of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation (UNPO) (Adotey, 2022;Agbozo, 2018). Now, there is a growing number of splinter groups apart from the HSGF and WTRF, all demanding the sovereign state of Western Togoland.…”