MILITANT FULANI HERDSMEN; THE BANE OF THE NORTHERN LIVESTOCK INDUSTRY

Page 7 (Features), Dec 11, 2007
By Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah
A vibrant, favourable and protected livestock industry of the agricultural sector in northern Ghana must be of concern to the relevant authorities.
This is because it is not only a job avenue for the youth and a means of livelihood to the vast majority of a people whose poverty and deprivation levels are worrisome developments to all but is also tied to their religious and traditional rites.
Even more importantly, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture recognises that the supply of more than 40 per cent of animal protein requirement of the whole country is sourced from the livestock industry in northern Ghana. Thus, our northern livestock industry is contributing immensely to the health needs of the people of Ghana.
The vast stretches of grasslands for grazing and numerous water bodies for drinking gives northern Ghana a comparative advantage over other parts of Ghana for the strategic citing of the industry. It, therefore, would have been a booming industry were it not for the unregulated cross border movement of persistent and militant Fulani herdsmen, whose livestock are not only over-grazing the grasslands but also spreading diseases and threatening the survival of the livestock industry in the north, in particular, and the country in general.
These armed Fulani herdsmen have a practice of setting on fire what remains of the grazing grasslands after over-grazing them and they move on with the believe that fresh green grass will sprout in wait for them on their way back.
They do not stop there. Not only do these men carry their militant activities into highway armed robbery, particularly in the Tamale - Techiman corridor, as the records have shown, but engage in cattle wrestling as well.
As the dry season approaches, women in the Northern Region and other areas are gripped with fear, as rape and elopement are listed among their anti-social activities.
Factors that make it difficult for the immigration officials to combat their activities are under-staffing, under resourcing and more frustratingly, collusion of some of our own Ghanaian nationals and some traditional rulers to cover these Fulani herdsmen who they claim are under their employment.
The ECOWAS protocols on free movement of persons, goods and services, which the immigration officials are tasked to oversee in a way also ties their hands in dealing with these herdsmen even when they enter through unapproved entry points.
The experience from the Alien Compliance order, which tagged a particular regime of the tradition of this government as unfriendly to our neighbours seem to give the jitters to the powers that be in dealing ruthlessly with these herdsmen.
These are the constraints inhibiting the growth of the livestock industry in the north, which the Northern Livestock Farmers Association (NORLFA) seeks to address through the Business Sector Advocacy Challenge (BUSAC) funded advocacy action facilitated by the Network for Advocacy and Development Alternatives (NADA), a Sunyani-based non-governmental organisation.
The advocacy action is targeting the regional co-ordinating councils,the Immigration Service, τηε Veterinary Service, MOFA, the Ministry of Interior and τηε Ministry of Foreign Affairs and NEPAD in a national dialogue.
Through such engagements, operators within the sector will press for the enforcement of Act 573 of the 1992 constitution of Ghana establishing the Immigration Service, for a more regulated cross border movement of these Fulani herdsmen with only screened and healthy livestock allowed into Ghana to augment our industry.
Besides equipping the regulatory bodies such as the Immigration Service to carry out their statutory functions in a forceful manner, with a free hand, the suggested solution alternatives listed below seem the most result oriented measures:
∞ Corridors should be created for their entry,
∞ Camps should be established to check their activities,
∞ A quarantined screening should be conducted on herds crossing into the country
∞ A parol unit should be established and the
∞ Issuance of “Alien Registration Card” to these Fulani Herdsmen should be introduced.