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Nine Volta ‘secessionists’ discharged

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The nine  members of the Homeland Study Group Foundation (HSGF), who were allegedly planning to secede the Volta Region from the rest of Ghana, have been discharged.

This was after a Senior State Attorney Winifred Sarpong, had informed the court that they had been instructed to withdraw the case.

The three member panel of the Court  presided over by Justice Jerome Nkrumah subsequently struck  the case out as withdrawn.

Even though three of the accused persons were still in custody, the court said the discharge affected all of them.

The prosecutor, Fred Awindago,  informed the court that the plan for today was to pray for an adjournment to file additional evidence, a similar prayer prosecution made at the previous sitting.

It was in the case of one detective Sergeant Alhaji Ali Ganani, an investigator in the  case that, even though they had received documents of lands, they realised those properties were at different location and needrd verification.

According to him, two weeks ago, they had sent the documents to the Volta Regional Lands Commission as well as that of the Greater Accra for verification but were yet to get feedback.

Justice Charles Ekow Baiden, said he did not think they should stay procedures to curtail the fundamental Human Rights of the accused persons.

He urged the state at the previous  sitting, to be more focused on this case in order to expedite action on the matter.

He said if the state was  not ready, they should inform the court for the accused persons to be discharged until they  were ready.

For her part, Justice Afia Serwah Asare Botwe, warned that  the state might regret if they returned to court today to ask for time.

The group calling itself the HSGF planned to secede the Volta Region from Ghana and declare it as an independent country called Western Togoland.

They claim that the Volta Region (Western Togoland) was formerly an independent state before being made to join Ghana in a plebiscite.

Eight of its members were arrested by a combined team of police and military men in a house in Ho while holding a meeting to finalise arrangements to declare the Volta Region an independent state on 9th of May, this year.

The police intercepted their meeting, they found T-shirts with the inscriptions 9th May is our day and A Citizen of Western Togoland.

The police also found messages that revealed that Sgt Kwabla, the soldier, had given the group advance messages to hide their weapons due to a pending search by a combined team of the police and the military.

Story filed by Yvonne Asare Offei and Rita Nyarko

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