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Former Hohoe-South MP Kosi Kedem has stated that due to a constitutional error by the British during the Gold Coast era, Ghana does not legally exist.
This statement refers to the recent attacks in the Volta region, where secessionist groups by violent means have demanded their independence from Ghana.
During an interview on Joy News’ PM Express, Mr. Kedem explained that due to UN Resolution 1044, documentation required to ratify the union between the Gold Coast, a British colony, and Togoland, a United Nations trust territory, the country has no legal personality. .
“There is no union document on the so-called union between Ghana (Gold Coast) and Togoland. Defacto, they are one [unit]But legally, Ghana doesn’t exist. “
In his explanation, he revealed that present-day Ghana, as we know it, is made up of the Gold Coast and the UN Trust Territory of British Togo, and for that union to be constitutionally legal, a union document was needed to legalize that union. Union.
However, this document was never developed. On top of that, after it was determined that a union between Gold Coast and Togoland was to be enforced, no meeting was held to determine the modalities of the union.
“Resolution 1044 recognizing the recommended union, the same UN Resolution 1044 invited the British Government which was the administering authority to take the necessary measures to achieve the union.
“So if a Trust Territory, ruled by the UN and a colony ruled by Britain, are going to unite, what do you do? You have to sit the two of them down to determine what kind of government they want to have, what their responsibilities, obligations and benefits will be. No such thing was done, ”he revealed.
Mr. Kedem believes that the absence of this union document that details the factors of the union is the main cause of these secessionist groups fighting for independence.
The plebiscite problem
He further explained that the plebiscite held a few years before Gold Coast’s independence was the result of the United Nations Visiting Mission to French and British Togoland.
This plebiscite was to determine the political destiny of both colonies. After that, 2 options were offered; a union with Gold Coast or an integration of both colonies.
“The problem is that there was a plebiscite as a result of the UN Visiting Mission that reached the 2 Togos; French Togo and British Togo in 1955 and recommended that a plebiscite be held in British Togo to determine their political destiny ”
Following this, he revealed that “the majority of Togoland said they wanted an independent union with the Gold Coast”, however, “the UN General Assembly rejected the union offer and forcibly integrated Togoland with the Gold Coast.”
According to him, a union would maintain the sovereignty of Togo; giving them sovereign equality with the independent Gold Coast with an interdependence among themselves although under the same government.
However, with integration, Togo would lose its identity completely to be consumed by the Gold Coast and would have no constitutional rights.
Furthermore, after the union was forced into Togoland, no meeting was held to determine the terms of the union, that is, the type of government that would be instituted, the responsibilities, obligations and benefits that would flow from the union.
“Instead, on the eve of independence, around March 4, the British government, with the help of the PCP government, sent troops to Togoland and occupied the place under the pretext that they were putting down a rebellion.”
Furthermore, the British refused to go to any lengths to implement the terms in what he called Resolution 1044, which was to ratify the union.
The resolution
To solve the problem, Kosi Kedem, while condemning the violent acts of the separatist, called for dialogue between the secessionist group and the government.
“Violence, confrontation, and repression are very powerful, but dialogue, negotiation and commitment are much more powerful than violence, because violence does not solve any problem, dialogue does. It gives you a lasting solution to the problem. “
Furthermore, due to the fact that the invitation that the UN extended to the British to take constitutional and legal measures never materialized, but rather a forced integration of Togoland with the Gold Coast, Kedem recommended a “rectification of the constitutional error” in order to to end the secession debate and generate unity in the country.
