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We can’t sack Fulani herdsmen – Kwesi Pratt
Kwesi Pratt stressed that the solution to the problem is to find better methods of animal husbandry.
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He warned that if the government forcefully ejects these Fulani herdsmen, it will be breaking international conventions on stateless people.
For years, the residents of Agogo have been demanding the ejection of the Fulani herdsmen from the area.
According to the residents, the herdsmen have been destroying their farms with their cattle. They have also accused the herdsmen of raping their women and murdering any individual, who questions them on their activities.
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A few weeks ago, the youth of Agogo threatened not to allow the chief of the area to celebrate his 40 anniversary as the omanhene of the area if measures are not taken to resolve the crisis.
This generated a public debate with some Ghanaians asking the government to sack the herdsmen.
However, contributing to a discussion on Radio Gold, Mr. Pratt pointed out that it is important for Ghanaians to know that these Fulani herdsmen are stateless people and therefore, they cannot be sacked.
He asked, “do you know that these Fulani herdsmen are stateless people and do you know that under international conventions, you cannot expel them from your country? You cannot! It’s against international law to be expelling stateless people and yet, people are asking for them to be expelled. Expel them to where? Where do they come from?”
According to him, the practices and existence of Fulani herdsmen “have defied colonial boundaries all this time. They are not Nigerians, they are not Ghanaians. They are nomadic people who keep moving all the time so more or less, they are stateless people.”
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Mr. Pratt acknowledged that indeed, “these herdsmen are causing considerable damage to farming communities. Sometimes they have about 10, 000 cows so even if they go through your farm and even if they don’t eat what you grow, everything will be destroyed in your farm.”
“There are farmers who have lost 20 acres. They go to adb, they take loans, they develop their farms and within a twinkle of an eye, they are all gone,” he added.
He stressed that the solution to the problem is to find better methods of animal husbandry.
“That is the only solution!” he said.
“Are we going to create a special corridor, are we going to use our savannah regions to grow grass which will provide employment for people who live in those areas so that these cows will be fed by that grass and so on?”
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He indicated that he is “deeply worried about is the violence associated with it. Some of these herdsmen are heavily armed and they resist interference. That presents a national security situation which must be dealt with and so on.”
He said the two recommendations given by the committee which was set up to investigate the Agogo crisis “will not work.
The committee recommended either voluntary repatriation or forced eviction but Mr. Pratt insists that these solutions “won’t work!”
“Let us think outside the box and if we thought outside the box, it will be possible to deal with some of these problems,” he advised.
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