Operation Cowleg fails

Page 17, Jan 30, 2008
Story: Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah
OPERATION Cowleg, launched in 1999 to curb activities of alien Fulani herdsmen whose cattle were indiscriminately destroying crops and causing environmental degradation in some parts of the country, has not lived up to expectation.
The Deputy Minister of Defence, Mr William Ofori Boafo, told Parliament on Friday that “despite all efforts made, we could not drive all the cattle out and even those that were flushed out found their way back into the country”.
The deputy minister was in the House to answer a question posed by some Members of Parliament (MPs) about his ministry.
The MP for Biakoye, Mr Emmanuel Kwasi Bandua, enquired from the minister the role of the military in Operation Cowleg.
Mr Boafo said that the herdsmen had the reputation of being extremely hostile and violent and apart from terrorising locals, they sometimes exchange fire with the police and military personnel.
“There is a seeming lack of judicial will in the conduct of the operation”, he said, adding that “as a result, it is difficult to deal with the herdsmen”.
Mr Boafo stated that though deaths had been reported in some clashes between some local farmers and Fulani herdsmen, no prosecution had been made.
He said that inadequate logistics for the operation had mostly resulted in its ineffectiveness explaining that some units had problems transporting their personnel to the affected areas to conduct operations.
Mr Boafo further explained that there was the tendency for local political leaders in areas where troops were deployed for the operation to use them for other purposes.
For instance, there were allegations in the past that troops were being used in some districts to assist in tax and debt-collection exercises.
Mr Boafo said the ministry was of the view that herdsmen caught with firearms should be prosecuted swiftly and given maximum sentences.
He suggested that grazing areas should be created in the various districts for the Fulani to use for a fee, to stop the destruction of farms by the cattle and the resultant clashes between local farmers and the Fulani herdsmen.
Mr Boafo told the House that the military’s involvement in Operation Cowleg was to assist the civilian authorities to combat the illegal activities of the alien herdsmen and protect the locals, who were under threat of these herdsmen.