British Togoland Movement: An Offshoot of Historical Creations

Abstract

This thesis is an inquiry into the political evolution of British Togoland to identify factors that have contributed to the emergence of British Togoland Movement as well as those factors which continue to foil and sustain it from 1916 till now. The study focuses on colonial activities in Eweland from 1886 to the independence of Ghana in 1956 and how these activities continue to influence opinions among Ewe people. Eweland was first divided between the Gold Coast, a British colony and Togoland under German rule. However, this division did not create much attention at the time. After the defeat of Germany in World War 1, German Togoland was divided between France and Britain and put under the respective administrative authorities of Dahomey and Gold Coast. This arrangement further divided Eweland and became source of agitations among ewes led by Ewe Unification Movement which aimed to unite Ewelands under one administrative authority. Ewe Unification Movement dies off when British Togoland formerly became an administrative region of independence Ghana in 1957. The post-independence period of Ghana also continues to witness periodic agitations and protests led by British Togoland Movement which comprises other smaller movements for the restoration of British Togoland as an independent state. The latest agitations by street demonstration took place in 2018 and some of the protesters were arrested by the security agencies. Data was collected by triangulating three data sources namely: interview, archive documents and observation of a specific Facebook platform. To identify the foiling factors of these agitations, the objective and demands of the movement, and the impact of the movement on Ewe people, study used three school of thoughts namely: post-colonial theory, deprived actor (grievances) theory and rational actor (opportunity) theory to explain occurrences of event and actions taken thereof in the context of British Togoland Movement. This led to arriving at findings which would inform stakeholders to find everlasting solution to a problem the study considers to be an offshoot of historical creations. Findings from the study indicate that the decision leading to the union between British Togoland and Cold Coast and how it was implemented continue to be the major foiling factor; the British Togoland Movement’s major demand is the restoration of British Togoland as independent state; the emergence of the movement has contributed to the development of a new ethnic sentiment among Ewe people than before, creating a situation of ‘Us’ against ‘Them’ between Ewe people and other ethnic groups.