Sad story of Fulani women, children

What is happening at Atta Akura in the Kintampo North Municipality in the Brong Ahafo Region and other areas in the country has brought to the fore, the saying that, the sins of the fathers shall visit the children.

Anytime there is a fracas between Fulani cattle herdsmen and their Ghanaian hosts, the most affected are innocent women and children.

The situation has become so alarming that these innocent women and children really need the support of all well meaning Ghanaians. In the case of Atta Akura cattle herdsmen, the fathers’ crime was that they tried to protect their cattle from being taken away by cattle rustlers.

A typical example of the sad story of Fulani women and children happened at Atta Akura when a fight ensued between Fulani cattle herdsmen and some cattle rustlers. When the Fulani cattle herdsmen run for dear lives, leaving behind their wives and children, they were literally taken as captives. When DAILY GUIDE visited the village following a tip off, the women and children were made to sit on the ground at their thatch-roofed houses without food and water for several hours, while their armed ‘captors’ stood around, giving commands.

Speaking to DAILY GUIDE in Hausa, one of the ‘captives’, Hawawu Musah said some men from a nearby village raided their kraal during the night and when their husbands resisted, a fight ensued but since the men were fully armed, their husbands had no choice but to run away, leaving them to their fate. She said what happened was not the first and that anytime cattle rustlers raided their kraal, a fight ensued. According to Hawawu, their husbands are law-abiding and would not do anything to harm their hosts but because some Ghanaians perceive all Fulani herdsmen as armed robbers, all Fulanis are lumped together and treated badly.

She revealed to DAILY GUIDE that sometimes some of the herdsmen are attacked and killed in the bush and their cattle herded away. She seized the opportunity to appeal to the government to come to their aid because they were also contributing their quota towards nation building.

A farmer who lives with the Fulani herdsmen, Adamu Krudando told DAILY GUIDE that since the herdsmen and their families came to live with him, he has found nothing wrong with them. He said what was disturbing as far as he was concerned was that they did not take their children to school and their wives only milked the cattle and took the products to the market to sell. According to Krudando, “when you live with them you would realize they are not harmful”. In his view those who engaged in armed robbery were not cattle herdsmen but hardened criminals who come to Ghana solely to engage in robbery.