Eyadema hounds out opponents in Ghana

A Togolese businesswoman, running away from the human rights abuses of Togo, Lisa Hakim, has been caught up in an unending run for her life as political opponents in Togo continue to pursue her.

After seeking refuge in Germany from 1991 to 1997, Mrs. Hakim said she returned home, hoping to settle in a peaceful Togo after being made to believe that the democratic wind blowing across Africa had affected her country, but alas, she returned to meet the opposite.

“Thinking there was a change, I decided to get established and go into commerce to contribute to my country’s economy, but my ambitions did not live long, as the powers that be in Togo perceived as a threat,” Mrs. Hakim said.

“Being a member of the PDR party, a political group fighting for democracy, Mrs. Hakim became very popular among her town folks but the authorities in Lome managed to send her parking from her country to stop her from exposing the abuses of the three-decade dictatorial rule of General Eyadema,” a Ghanaian private newspaper reports in the capital Accra.

She was among a group that discouraged women from attending demonstrations to amass support for General Eyadema and his cronies. This turned out to be her last activity in Togo as the secret service came strongly after her.

Being one of the nearest countries and with a stable political climate, Mrs. Hakim said she found solace in Ghana and decided to put up a home but unfortunately for her, she had to experience yet another nightmare as the authorities in Lome did not relent in their efforts to shut her up.

Mrs. Hakim disclosed to the Independent that she has had to virtually play hide and seek with her pursuers, as the suburbs within which she has lived since coming to Ghana have been put under constant surveillance. The Togolese refugee intimated further that she has had to vacate every suburb she has lived in to bring peace to the people she stays with.

Her story is just one of many cases in which political opponents of the Togolese government living in exile are pursued to wherever they are to be threatened.

Some Togolese refugees who talked to the paper are full of praise for Ghana for her young democracy and the respect for the rights of everyone be they foreigners or nationals.

They believe Togo can learn a lot from Ghana whiles president Kufuor can convince his counterpart to change for the good of his country.