President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo Must Respect The Rights Of Voltarians And Stop The Inexplicable Discrimination Against The Volta Region

The Peoples’ Liberation Council of Western Togoland, USA and Canada branch has learnt with discontentment of a malicious and unjustified directive of Ghana government in terminating Births and Deaths Registration in the Volta Region and the ambiguous transfer of Mr. Richard Womega and Ms. Peace Agbenyo, Head of Volta Region Births and Deaths Registry and Deputy Regional Head from Ministry of local government and Rural Development respectively. These two who were in charge of Births and Deaths Registry in the Volta Region were transferred based on a directive from Nana Akufo-Addo’s administration and instantaneous removal of Mr. John Yao Agbeko the National Head from office on the same day.

This unfair transfer and unconstitutional removal of only Citizens, named above, from the Volta Region coupled with a complete denial of the people of the Volta Region the Rights to Births and Deaths registration is aggression on the sovereignty of the entire Region and violation of the Human Rights of the people of the Volta Region.

This antagonism and dictatorship initiated against the people of the Volta Region in order to strip them off their civil and democratic Rights are popular antics of the various governments of Ghana and the need to put a stop to it.

The patience and law adherence of the people of the Volta Region are being taken for granted and used as weakness against the Region. From neglecting the Region, by allowing the Region to drown in bad road network, Luck of Colleges, absence of potable drinking water and electricity to so many towns and villages, poor healthcare delivery, denying children under ten years of age the right to education, many town and villages hardly enjoy any social intervention programs and as if the above are not enough, the government of Ghana is bent on dividing the Region on tribal grounds against the will of the Citizenry.

It is clear that the action of the government to stop Births and Deaths Registration in the Volta Region is a deliberate plot to disenfranchise the people of the Volta Region to buttress the famous chorus and hatred that Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia have harbored since 2015 at a press conference that Voltarians are not Ghanaians and that 76, 286 eligible voters in the voter register from the Volta Region are Togolese and so must be removed from the register.

The Ghana government has introduced the Ghana Card as proof of Citizenship and the only valid document to use to register and vote when the Electoral Commission opens the voter register for new registration, and the only valid document that can qualifies one to have this Ghana card is the Birth certificate and passport, and again, without Birth certificate, one cannot have a Passport. So with the current situation of complete ban on Births and Deaths Registration in the Volta Region, how do the people of Volta Region get their Ghana card and get registered as voters if they are to be regarded as Ghanaians per Dr. Bawumia’s claims? Well, you are the best judges.

True democracies are not prone to such gross violation of human Right as Voltarians are experiencing under the current Ghana government. We need not to remind government of Ghana that democracy allows equality and ensures the rule of law, is ultimately a means to achieve total freedom, peace and security, economic and social progress and development, and respect for human Rights.

Ghana must live by its creed and stop the hostility meted against the People of the Volta Region if they consider them as Ghanaians.

Where is the freedom and justice?
Volta Region Deserve better.
Thank you.
Seth Mifetu.
(Coordinator-U.S.A and Canada Branch of PLC)