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Cattle owner narrates ordeal after losing over 340 cattle following military invasion

The last two months have seen Agogo and its surrounding areas shrouded in chaos due to clashes between Fulani herdsmen, indigenes and the security services.

The last two months have seen Agogo and its surrounding areas shrouded in chaos due to clashes between Fulani herdsmen, indigenes and the security services.

In the course of the clashes, many lives have been lost, cattle perished and security personnel injured.

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Just over two weeks ago, two military men and a police officer were shot by unknown assailants while on duty to stop the Fulani herdsmen and their cattle from causing further damage in the area.

As a result, government has taken a strong stance, with a 200-member joint task force of both military and police personnel being dispatched to the Asante Akyem North and Sekyere Afram Plains districts of the Ashanti Region to evacuate the Fulani nomads from the town.

The Konongo Divisional police commander, Superintendent Bossman Ohene-Boadi, did not mince words when he ordered the joint task force to ‘shoot-to-kill’ if any of the Fulani herdsman proves to be a danger.

The Member of Parliament for Asante Akyem North, Andy Appiah Kubi also urged the task force to be resolute in dealing with the Fulani nomads, insisting they had waged war against the country by attacking members of the police and military.

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Indeed, the joint task force has been resolute in handling matters, with hundreds of cattle already shot dead in a bid to drive the Fulani nomads out of Agogo.

Alhaji Ahmed Muddy is a cattle owner in an Agogo, and he believes that military has gone overboard with their handling of the issue.

As a man who owns over 5,000 cattle, Alhaji Muddy has already lost close to 350 of his stock in the hands of the ruthless military.

According to him, no court ruling has given the military any right to kill their stock and therefore pleaded with the government to allow them a bit more time to move their cattle from the town.

He further explained that the cattle that are being killed could be used more profitably, suggesting that they could be supplied to schools, hospitals, prisons and persons in need of food, rather than being killed and left to go waste.

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“Since the start of the incident, I have lost 343 out of Almost 5027 cows that were killed in the process through the shooting spree of the military,” he lamented.

“It would have been logical to have handed them over to the authorities who would have transported them to the hospitals, schools, prisons, and NGOs instead of killing them and leaving them to the mercy of perishing in the bushes.

“We are therefore pleading with the media to help us channel our grievances to the necessary authorities so that we can transport them back to the northern part of Ghana.

“We plead that the authorities come to our mercy while we arrange on how to get our animals out of agogo land. Besides, the court ruling did not state that the cattle were to be killed.”

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He added that not all the cattle owners are Fulani nomads looking to destroy the farmlands in Agogo.

He pleaded with the security services to fish out those who have defaulted, rather than hunt down every cattle owner, irrespective of whether guilty or not.

“There is a difference between cattle that has been migrated into Ghana and ones that are originally reared in Ghana so if there has been a destruction of properties during the dry season we would humbly request that the matter be given a second thought so that cattle owners whose animals have caused the damages could be brought to book or justice.

“There are immigrant Fulanis and there are citizenry Fulanis, including locals who are also into the animal husbandry business,” Alhaji Ahmed Muddy said.

He went on to state that the continuous destruction of cattle in the tone without justification will only kill animal farming, which could lead to a shortage of meat in the country.

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