Four members of the Western Togoland group, including its founder Michael Koku Kwabla Amertonu also known as Togbe Yesu Edudzie, have been sentenced to a total of 17 years in hard labour. The convicts also including a chief, a police officer and a military officer, were also fined Ghs26,400 in all or in default, serve additional sentences in hard labour. The convicted felons, were sentenced, after Justice Mary Ekue Yanzuh, of the High Court, Accra, concluded that the state, put up cogent evidence to prove the guilt of the convicts, for offenses contrary to the Prohibited Organisations Act 1976 (SMCD20).
The convicted felons are Michael Kwabla, also known as Togbe Yesu, Nene Kwaku Agblorm, a chief, WO1 Emmanuel Hayford Afedo, and Lance Corporal Abednego Dzreke Mawuena. A fifth accused person, Charles Elo, died during the trial. The first four, were convicted of being members of a prohibited organization, contrary to Act 1976 (SMCD 20). Micheal Koku Kwabla Amertonu, founder and leader of Western Togoland, was sentenced to 5-years imprisonment in hard labour, and also fined twelve thousand Ghana cedis, or in default, serve an additional three months of jail time in hard labour. The Court sentencing the rest held that Nene Kwaku Agblorm, is a chief who should have known better than to be involved in such criminality. It then held that Lance Corporal Abednego Dzreke Mawuena, a police breached his oath of allegiance to the Country. The Court described the action of WO1 Emmanuel Hayford Afedo a military officer, as reprehensible. The court subsequently sentenced them to 4 years each in prison in hard labour.
They were also fined four thousand, eight hundred cedis each or in default, serve additional sentences of three months, in hard labour. The convicts were charged for attending meetings of a prohibited organisation , making contributions to the funds of a prohibited organization, participating in the campaign of a prohibited organization, and being a member of a prohibited organization. Prior to sentencing them, lawyers for the convicts, pleaded with the court, for leniency, as their clients were held in detention throughout the trial. However, Justice Mary Ekue Yanzuh, agreed with prosecution that a deterrent sentencing, would serve as an example to persons who may be harboring similar intentions.
She said the convicts, chose aggressive means for achieving independence for an intended state, and engaged in public speech urging people to join the group. According to the Court, that was an insult to the Republic of Ghana especially with the lowering of the flag of Ghana. The facts are that officers of the Criminal Investigations Department, based on intelligence gathered, arrested members of the Western Togoland Restoration Front who, on September, 25, 2020, blocked the road at Juapong and Sogakope and set fire to two STC vehicles. The Western Togoland Restoration Front is a splinter organisation from the Homeland Study Group Foundation, and was founded by Michael Amertornu, following the collapse of its mother organization the Homeland Study Foundation, formed by Charles Kwami Kudzordzi also known as Papavi Hogbedetor . The objective was to secede from the Republic of Ghana and form a new sovereign State, with Oti and Volta regions and parts of the Northern Region.
