An Accra High Court has found four individuals guilty for their involvement in the activities of the banned Western Togoland Restoration Front (WTRF), a group seeking the secession of part of Ghana’s Volta Region.

The individuals were convicted for their roles in a violent uprising that occurred in 2021, which included blocking roads and launching attacks on police installations in Mepe and Aveyime.

During the unrest, members of the group reportedly stormed local police stations, freed detained suspects, locked officers in the cells, and stole weapons and ammunition from the stations’ armories.

Those convicted include Raphael Tettevi, co-founder and president of the United Freedom Fighters; Jasper Mawulorm Agudogo; and Daniel Yevugah, president of the Concerned Citizens of Western Togoland (CCWT). All three were charged as first, second, and third accused persons, respectively.

Each of the three has been sentenced to six months imprisonment for being members of a prohibited organization.

In addition to the custodial sentences, they were fined 800 penalty units each—equivalent to GH¢9,600—bringing the total fine to GH¢28,800. A default in payment will attract an additional 12 months of imprisonment.

Hope Mottey, the group’s secretary and the fourth accused, was convicted in absentia after jumping bail. He was sentenced to two years in prison for accepting contributions on behalf of the prohibited organization.

The court also imposed a fine of 500 penalty units on him, equivalent to GH¢6,000, with a further six-month custodial sentence in case of non-payment.

The presiding judge, Justice Marie-Louise Simmons, also ordered the Registrar of Companies to remove the names of the Homeland Study Group Foundation and the Western Togoland Restoration Front from its registry, effectively dissolving their legal existence.

In determining the sentence, the court took into account mitigation pleas presented by counsel for the third accused, as well as personal pleas from the first and second accused persons.

It also considered submissions from the prosecution, led by State Attorney Abena Konadu Adjei, who argued for a deterrent punishment, pointing out that the accused showed no remorse and opted for a full trial despite evidence against them.

The court noted that the convicts had already spent four years and eight months in remand custody—just shy of the maximum five-year sentence prescribed for the offense—and remarked that an earlier conviction could have likely resulted in the completion of their sentence by now.

All four individuals are to sign bonds of good behavior, failing which they will each serve an additional six months in custody.

Background

Per the brief facts, officers of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), based on intelligence gathered, embarked on an exercise to identify and arrest members of the Western Togoland Restoration Front (WTRF) who, on September 25, 2020, blocked the road at Juapong and Sogakope and set fire to two STC vehicles.

It said on that day, some members of the WTRF group also attacked the Aveyime and Mepe Police Stations, freed the inmates in the cells, locked up the policemen on duty in the cells, took arms and ammunition from the armory of the police stations, and bolted.

It said investigations led to the arrest of the accused persons who are members of the Homeland Study Group Foundation, United Freedom Fighters (UFF), and Concerned Citizens of Western Togoland (CCWT).

The UFF, CCWT, and the WTRF are splinter organizations from the Homeland Study Group Foundation, whose main objective is to secede from the Republic of Ghana and form a new sovereign state.

The brief facts stated that investigations showed that the UFF, CCWT, and WTRF were formed after Charles Kwami Kudzordzi alias Papavi Hogbedetor, the founder and leader of the HSGF, a prohibited organization, went into hiding after his arrest and release to continue from where he left off.

The first accused person, Raphael Tettevi, was the co-founder and President of the United Freedom Fighters. It said he was assisted by the second accused person, Jasper Mawulorm Agudogo, while the third accused person, Daniel Yevugah, was the co-founder and President of the CCWT.

The fourth accused person, Hope Mottey, is the financial secretary of the Homeland Study Group Foundation.

During their interrogations, the accused persons admitted being members of these prohibited organizations.