People’s Liberation Council (PLC) of Western Togoland have said that the recently discovered iron ore in the Oti Region belongs to the people of Western Togoland and not Ghana.
According to the PLC, the territory that the Government of Ghana is referring to as the Oti Region belongs to the people of Western Togoland, and, therefore, any attempt by the government to extract any mineral from it amounts to trespassing.
“First of all, we wish to state that there’s nothing like Oti Region where the so-called discovery was said to have been made. That territory does not belong to the Gold Coast or the Republic of Ghana but is a bonafide territory of Western Togoland, and therefore Ghana has no business whatsoever to trespass into that territory.
“Indeed, the people of Western Togoland have long been aware of the deposits of iron ore in commercial quantities in that portion of their territory and so this announcement by the republic of Ghana about the discovery of the minerals was nothing new to the people of Western Togoland,” parts of a statement copied to GhanaWeb by the PLC, read.
The group also added that the action by the Government of Ghana amounts to a contravention of international laws.
“Indeed, the UN charter on Trust Territories forbids the exploitation of mineral deposits by Ghana in Western Togoland (See the UN charter on Trust Territories below) and as there is no formal agreement between the two nations since the Union which should have addressed these issues was never established, there could never have been any grounds upon which Ghana should be exploiting mineral deposits in Western Togoland leading to this so-called discovery,” it said.
The council, therefore, called on the international community to condemn the Ghanaian government’s actions and warn it against any attempts to explore minerals found on the territories of the people of Western Togoland.
Meanwhile, the Oti Regional Minister, Joshua G. Makuba, has stated that mining iron ore in the region will commence in the middle of next year.
The minister said that the discovery of iron ore in his region would help transform Ghana’s economy.
“I want to advise people in Accra to start looking for land in the Oti Region because what is going to take Ghana from our current state to a very industrialised nation has been found in the Oti Region and that is the iron ore,” he told the media at a press conference.
Read the full statement by the PLC below:
12th October 2022
Subject: Press Statement
To All Media Houses
PRESS
STATEMENT BY THE PEOPLE’S LIBERATION COUNCIL (PLC) OF WESTERN TOGOLAND
ON THE GOVERNMENT OF GHANA’S ANNOUNCEMENT ON THE DISCOVERY OF IRON ORE
IN THE OTI REGION.
Warm Regards, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Press.
The attention of the People’s Liberation Council (PLC) of Western Togoland
has been drawn to some publications making rounds on various media
platforms which the Council has sighted on the announcement of the
government of Ghana on the purported discovery of IRON ORE in commercial
quantities in the Oti region and the government’s move to leverage on
Ghana’s LITHIUM deposits to start manufacturing batteries locally for
which the PLC wishes to react accordingly as follows:
1.
First of all we wish to state that there’s nothing like Oti region
where the so-called discovery was said to have been made. That territory
does not belong to the Gold Coast or the republic of Ghana but is a
bonafide territory of Western Togoland, and therefore Ghana has no
business whatsoever to trespass into that territory. Indeed the people
of Western Togoland have long been aware of the deposits of iron ore in
commercial quantities in that portion of their territory and so this
announcement by the republic of Ghana about the discovery of the
minerals was nothing new to the people of Western Togoland.
2.
Indeed the UN charter on Trust Territories forbids the exploitation of
mineral deposits by Ghana in Western Togoland (See the UN charter on
Trust Territories below) and as there is no formal agreement between
the two nations since the Union which should have addressed these issues
was never established, there could never have been any grounds upon
which Ghana should be exploiting mineral deposits in Western Togoland
leading to this so-called discovery. This action by the government of
Ghana should be condemned in no uncertain terms by the international
community and Ghana must be cautioned to refrain from any such exploits
going forward.
3. That the LITHIUM which Ghana
hopes to mine as raw material for the manufacture of batteries locally
is also deposited in commercial quantities under the Adaklu mountain a
territory also in Western Togoland which also Ghana is forbidden by
international statutes from exploiting.
4. The
impunity with which Ghana has over the years handled the Western
Togoland problem is giving birth to the second school of thought. Before
the invasion of the colonial imperialists subsequently resulting in the
annexation of Western Togoland to the Gold Coast or Ghana after Britain
and her Collaborators in the UN used some Machiavellian antics to
achieve their diabolical plans. This second school which is not the
position of the PLC, They believe that the people of Western Togoland
are tired of being treated as second-class citizens in their own nation
by the government of Ghana. They also believe that these artificial
barriers erected by Britain and France to separate the two TOGOLANDS
should be removed so they can dwell together in unity and peace for
accelerated development of their nations if Ghana continually refuses to
implement the Union the people of Western Togoland voted for in the May
9, 1956 plebiscite.
A case in point was that of Eastern and
Western Germany which were separated by the Berlin wall also known as
the iron curtain during world war II. The people have realised the folly
of this wall that separated them, pulled it down and united for a
common national agenda and the rest is history.
We conclude by
passionately appealing to any investors both local and foreign who may
want to enter into any agreement with the government of Ghana for the
mining of any natural resources under the earth in Western Togoland to
tread cautiously as Ghana has no agreement with Western Togoland to that
effect.
Until Ghana takes the necessary democratic and
constitutional steps to implement the Union between the two nations
Ghana and Western Togoland so as to come to an agreement on the way
forward any such investment will be null and void and at the Investor’s
own risk. Thank you for your usual cooperation and attention. God bless
us all.
Please find links to the TOGOLAND Trusteeship Agreement Here:
Long live Western Togoland,
Long live Ghana,
Long Live Ghana and Western Togoland Union.
Issued by the Communications Bureau of the People’s Liberation Council (PLC) of Western Togoland.
