The outgoing Ashanti Regional Minister, Peter Anarfi-Mensah has assured that the Regional Security Council (REGSEC) is not sleeping on the Agogo crisis.

Briefing the media on the growing Agogo insecurity issue, the Minister, who is the chairman of the REGSEC, said that in their quest to mitigate the issue, REGSEC has directed the Ashanti Regional Police Command to take all necessary steps to engage leaders of the various stakeholders in Agogo and other communities to bring the situation under control.

The death of Okomfo Akwasi Badu, a fetish priest of the paramount chief of Agogo, Nana Akuoko Sarpong, David Attea and one unknown Fulani, all pertaining to escalating farmers-Fulani herdsmen fracas that has led to uneasy calm in Agogo in the Asante Akyem North of the Ashanti Region.

The Minister said REGSEC shall respond appropriately to any fallout from these security operations adding that, the Council has also introduced swift action to deal with any infraction of the law in the area.

“We have to note that in the cause of performance per our duty as REGSEC, we cannot allow the Fulanis as foreigners to be the target for attacks”, he indicated, adding “we need to protect them as well; they are members of Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS).

"And their protection is equally paramount, so we have to find a safe way for them to leave the area. “Our target is to get rid of them from the area and we have to find a safe way for them to leave. Therefore, those of you who think the military and police must move and harass or kill them, it’s not our target”.

On the way forward, the outgoing Ashanti Regional Minister indicated that REGSEC has immediate, short and long security terms to tackle the Fulani menace once and for all, adding that the immediate one starts from today, with security officers deployed to Agogo to augment the local security on the ground and will end in March 2016, and that the time would be extended if the need arises.

According to the REGSEC head, the short term is from now to the end of the dry season and indicated that an earlier warning system to detect time of arrival and movements of these nomadic Fulanis.

“They are coming in and going out unpredictably. You cannot predict them. The only issue constant is that you will see them at the onset of every dry season flocking into Ghana, notably November, December and there about”, he told the media.

“It becomes very difficult for us to predict that is why we are putting early warning systems at the various entry point of the Region by strengthening and intensifying the patrolling of the area. Minister Anarfi-Mensah assured residents of Agogo and its environs of maximum protection by REGSEC and appealed to them to cooperate with the REGSEC to achieve lasting peace for Agogo, Drobonso and other areas.

He advised opinion leaders to refrain from inciting people by taking the law into their own hands. The Minister admitted that the issue of Fulani herdsmen is not only associated with Agogo, but also Drobonso and its environs have experienced an influx of Fulani herdsmen during the harmattan season, revealing that the fertile stretch of land along the Afram river have become a source of fodder for Cattle during the dry harmattan season, under the stewardship of these Fulani herdsmen.

According to him, the area stretches from Konongo, Agogo, Ejura and portions of the Afram plains in the eastern Region.