President John Dramani Mahama says the challenge posed by nomadic herdsmen is not peculiar to Ghana, adding that government is working assiduously to tackle the menace.
Speaking in the Eastern Region as part of his ‘Accounting to the people tour’, the President noted that government will deploy additional security forces to evict those herdsmen whose activities are destroying farmlands in the Agogo Traditional area and other parts of the country.
“Government deployed security forces who pushed them back but after a while they drifted back and so government would do that again. I made the Army Commander and the Inspector General of Police go to Agogo and look at the situation there, and I have told them to come out with an operational plan to resolve the issue,” said the President.
The impasse between locals and nomadic Fulani herdsmen has lingered on for years, with residents accusing the herdsmen of destroying their farms, killing and raping their women.
Public officials, chiefs protecting herdsmen
Speaking on Koforidua-based Sunrise FM during his tour of the Eastern Region, the President revealed that “a lot of these herdsmen have been brought to the areas where they reside by some traditional leaders and public officials.”
He further indicated that most of the traditional authorities and public officials “ have a penchant to protect them because they give them cows from time to time.”
Herdsmen relocating due to climate change
The President also attributed the constant migration of the herdsmen to climate change and its rippling effects on their activities in other areas.
“What is happening is that, because of climate change, the Sahel is getting drier and so this area where a lot of these herdsmen were, they are not able to get enough pasture for the animals so they have started shifting southwards and it is a problem that does not only affect Ghana, it affects Cote D’lvoire, it affects Sierra Leone, it affects Liberia, it affects Guinea…”
Agogo Queen-mother leads demo to evict nomadic herdsmen
On Tuesday, the Queenmother of the Agogo Traditional area, Obaahema Nana Serwaa Kusi, led residents of the town to demonstrate against activities of Fulani herdsmen in the area.
She was accompanied by some elders of the Agogo Traditional Council, and the Member of Parliament for the area , Kojo Baah Agyeman.
–
By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @EfeAnsah