Residents of Charikpong want Fulani herdsmen out of community

Residents of Charikpong in the Nadowli/Kaleo District have called for the expulsion of all Fulani herdsmen from their community and cited persistent thefts and cross broader crimes as their reasons for making the call.

“The ECOWAS protocol on free movement of ECOWAS citizens gives the alien Fulani herdsmen the opportunity to live in the community but since they are abusing this protocol in various forms we have no option than to request that all Fulani men and women leave Charikpong,” they said.

The community members made this known in a statement issued to the Ghana News Agency in Wa, signed by eight assembly members within the Charikpong Area Council.

They said cattle belonging to the Fulani herdsmen destroyed their farms and their dry season gardens along the Black Volta.

The statement said cattle belonging to the Fulani herdsmen had polluted their water bodies and the mass movement of their cattle is turning their scarce farmlands into deserts.

They appealed to the Ghana Police Service top hierarchy to unravel a case that was allegedly masterminded by the chief of Charikpong and his sons because of their dealings with the Fulani herdsmen.

They alleged that the Charikpong chief and his sons defended a Fulani herdsman and that the chief allegedly had a hand in the death of a man in their community during a security operation in the area recently.

They questioned the motives behind the Charikpong chief’s extreme defence of the Fulani herdsmen when he assured the people in 2010 that he would not allow the herdsmen to reside in the community.