Mr Charles K. Kudzordzi, the leader of Homeland Study Group who were arrested for allegedly planning to declare Volta Region as an independent state today has been granted GH¢250,000 bail with two sureties by an Accra High Court.
A three-member panel of judges presided over by Justice Jerome Noble Nkrumah ordered the 85 year-old retired educationist to report to the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service twice every week on Monday and Thursday.
Seven of his alleged accomplice were remanded into police custody to appear again on May 22 at 2pm.
They are Benjamin Agbodzagah, 48; Nipple TonyeKudzo, 61 and AgbenyagahAkudzi, 54.
The rest are Thompson Taught, 58; Kofi Dzreke, 54; Freeman Bilaku, 36 and BisaAkorli.
The accused whose pleas is yet to be taken have been charged with seven counts of conspiracy to commit treason felony, abetment of unlawful training, unlawful assembly and offensive conduct.
Mrs Winfred Sarpong, a senior state attorney told the court that the offences for which the accused were charged with are first degree felony and that the indictment trial was to be conducted by a magistrate court where the accused were arrested.
However, she said the magistrate court in Accra lacked the jurisdiction to conduct the committal proceedings as the accused were arrested in Ho in the Volta Region.
She urged the court not to grant the accused bail arguing that investigations were ongoing and the fact that accused are not first time offenders.
The Ghanaian Times reported in its May 7 edition that eight members of the Homeland Study Group have been arrested for agitating for an autonomous state for the Volta Region by the security agencies in Ho, last Sunday and airlifted to Accra.
In a swoop carried out immediately they finished a meeting in a building adjacent to the Ho Royal Hospital, the police arrested them following intelligence gathered by the security
According to the police, the meeting attended by the suspects was a prelude to plans by the Homeland Study Group to declare independence for the region.
BY MALIK SULLEMANA
