Government steps up effort to deal with Fulani herdsmen

Kumasi, July 17, GNA - Dr Kwaku Agyemang-Mensah, Ashanti Regional Minister, has stated that government would not relent in its efforts to deal decisively with Fulani herdsmen, whose activities had become a worry to farmers, particularly in the Afram Plains area. He said it was against this backdrop that the Regional Security Council (REGSEC) had in recent times stationed joint police-military patrol teams at vantage points of the Plains to check the herdsmen while ensuring the safety of farmers.

Dr Agyemang-Mensah, who was interacting with one of the patrol teams at Bebome, near Agogo, in the Asante-Akim North Municipality, as part of his working visit to the area, assured the security personnel of the resolve by the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) to give them the necessary support. The Minister also interacted with residents of Bebome to know their socio-economic challenges and how best they could be addressed to bring comfort to the people.

He reiterated that government would not discriminate in the allocation of resources to improve the living conditions of the citizenry. Nana Adarkwa Yiadom, Odikro of Bebome, said communities such as Nyamebekyere, Kowereso, Aberewapon and Mankala, had enjoyed relative peace since the patrol team was stationed in the area. He appealed to the REGSEC to make patrols in the area a permanent activity since the herdsmen were complex in their modus operandi, citing how they occasionally destroy food crops and also terrorize some of the farmers.

Nana Adarkwa called for the construction of a health facility and school for the community.

Staff Sergeant Abraham Amankwaah, in-charge of the Bebome patrol team, thanked the Minister for the visit and stressed that the personnel were committed to work.

He said a total of 56 security personnel were currently stationed in the Municipality to patrol the area. 17 July 11