When Should Ewe (Evhe) Chiefs Speak?

I have been wondering what active party politics really means. I have also, over these past few days been asking myself the kind of politics that our chiefs have been barred from taking a part in. I have read section (1) of Article 276 of the constitution but I still want to know if the active politics is all about supporting NDC/ NPP or running for a political office.

I am asking this question because for the past few days I have read statements of chiefs from Anlo, Peki and even from the president of the National House of chiefs talking against a political movement in favour of the another. Yes, your guess is as good. I mean the Western Togoland Movement some even categorically mentioned the Homeland Study Group Foundation.

I remember just around November 2019 in this country, the entire Volta Region was excluded from the national budgetary allocation. I remember how the youths in the region agitated, spoke about being sidelined and recounted their pain of living in a region without decent jobs where after graduation they would have to pack bag and baggage and head for other regions to find jobs. I also remember when the Ministry of Transport announced that it was considering a cable transport project along the coast. The project was to extend from Accra all the way to Takoradi. Again, there was no mention of the coast of the Volta Region. I remember how I watched the minister announce this and smiled to myself in shame.

The comment of the Hon. Member of Parliament of the republic of Ghana -KT Hammond, that sought to imply that a significant number of those who vote in the Volta Region are not Ghanaians. We all watched how the security forces mainly non-Evhes were deployed to the Volta Region during the recent registration for voter ID cards and we equally heard of the unwarranted beatings, the invasion of homes and home searches without warrant. I remember how Ervhe people in the Banda district suddenly became aliens in Ghana. Last but not the least, I remember my travel through the dusty, pot hole riddled Peki roads.

I don’t want to talk about the referendum that divided the Volta Region and how Ervhe people were cursed and beaten in some instances for trying to ensure that the vote represented the will of the people. I don’t want to mention the age-old problem of police, immigration and Ceps check points numbering more than ten just between Aflao and Ada on your way to Accra which makes it feel like we live in two separate countries.

Throughout the period that we have been in these situations, the people of the Volta Region were obviously expecting to hear from their chiefs. There were moments that the Evhe people wished for just a comment from even a sub chief or just any recognized leader among the Evhe people, but got nothing. Those moments get me wondering if we really had leaders that had our interest at heart. At certain points those with access to social media even call out Jerry Rawlings to say something. But usually in such situations whatever we get as Evhe people either comes too late or never at all.

Prior to the Western Togoland brouhaha, just about a few weeks ago, the sorry stories of the Ervhe people of Ghana was the trend on social media, the stories about how their inability to speak twi was interpreted as being Togolese. Stories about how getting an accommodation in Accra or Kumasi to rent can be a challenge just because one was Evhe. I don’t want to touch on the aspect on employment and how even Prof. Avoke had to be removed simply because they said he wasn’t from Winneba.

Maybe our chiefs are of a privilege class and so cannot relate with our problems. But we as citizens have gone through and are still going through a lot. And we would wish that our leaders listen and speak on our behalf at all times and not just against us when we feel we have had enough and begin to react as a result of persistent injustice meted out to us.

If the chiefs couldn’t speak when the region was left out of the national budget because it is political, couldn’t speak about the obvious fraud going on in the name of the Keta port because it is political, and cannot speak about the terrible Peki road and the abandoned Ho airport because it is political, I equally expected that they would know that the Western Togoland Movement is political. Unless politics, in the context of the constitution only stands for anything under the banner of the NDC and the NPP.

I However suggest that if it is the violence that we wish to condemn, let us condemn the violence and wait until the perpetrators are arrested and identified to be actual members of the Western Togoland Movement then we accuse the group of the act. That would be wiser than basing our press releases on what we have heard on radio or seen on television sets from the comfort of our homes.

The Media is made of people, and not above reproach. But should the chiefs continue to publicly condemn the various movements calling for secession, I would wish to state that should there be the need for negotiation, they should equally not present themselves on the side of the secessionist, because so far neither have they spoken on the side of the people nor have our wise chiefs adopted a neutral approach.

Author M.A.Y Kulewosi
Email : [email protected]