NDC calls for stakeholder engagement to stem secessionists’ agenda

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Volta Region is calling for stakeholder engagements to stem secessionists agenda in the Region.

Mr Henry Ametefe, Regional Chairman of the Party, in a release copied to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), said although secessionist tendencies had long lingered in the Region, the reluctance of the political leadership to provide a platform for consultations prevented recent strings of agitations from receding.

“The matter of this so-called Western Togoland freedom fighters has been with us for decades, but as has been the norm, such agitations have always died a natural death, mostly because they are lacking in both moral and support.

“However, this doesn’t seem to be the case now. We are confronted with a situation where the issue appears to be rather escalating at an alarmingly unprecedented rate. These agitations have gone past what we have come to accept as normal, and has reached a point where these groups are now actively recruiting and training guerrilla combat militias, ostensibly to form an army; a development that we have never, in all of such agitations, seen before," he said.

Mr Ametefe, therefore, called on the Volta Regional Minister, being the political head of the Region to, as a matter of urgency, commission a stakeholder engagement to arrest the matter before it went out of hand.

He also called on traditional authorities in the Region and the head of the chieftaincy institution in the country to rise up against any secessionist agenda and protect the youth from falling prey to such groupings.

“Volta Region has always been a land that has valued her traditional authorities. It, therefore, stands to reason that on a matter as grievous as this, the political leadership of the Region would call for a wider engagement with our chiefs to seek wise counsel on the way forward," the Regional Chairman said.

Mr Ametefe said although secessionism was a global phenomenon “not unusual in multi-ethnic and multicultural societies such as Ghana,” recent developments and the response of stakeholders made the Party wonder whether it could perhaps, be the case that some people in positions of power were consciously exploiting this issue, deliberately allowing it to fester such that it could be used as a veneer by the political elites to mask some concealed political agenda.”

He said the NDC was ready to work with all stakeholders to find lasting solutions to the matter towards ensuring regional cohesion of people in the Region and called for the support of all.