REGSEC Vows To Comply With High Court Order On Fulani Herdsmen 


Chairman of the Ashanti Regional Security Council, REGSEC, Simon Osei Mensah, has assured the chiefs and people of the Asante Akyem North district that government will comply with a 2012 Kumasi High Court Ruling that ordered the government to completely evacuate all cattle and their herdsmen from the Asante Akyem North district. 

Mr. Osei Mensah assured also that "Operation Cow Leg" which, has resumed to drive away the cattle will not retreat until the set objectives are effectively accomplished to instil peace and security in the area. 

Mr. Osei Mensah, who is also the Regional Minister, was addressing the chiefs and people of Asante Akyem Agogo and the surrounding communities at Agogo called at the instance of the REGSEC. 

The Townhall meeting was to calm the nerves of the seemingly apprehensive residents following the reported gun attacks on members of "Operation Cow Leg" by some persons believed to be nomadic herdsmen at Serebuorso, a farming community within the district last Monday. 

The chiefs and people of Agogo and the other communities in the vicinity wear gripped with fear when news of the gun attack broke. 

The news also caused the REGSEC to convene an emergency meeting in Kumasi last Tuesday during which the decision to hold a Town-hall Meeting was reached. 

The Meeting was heavily patronized by residents of Agogo, the district capital, traditional leaders, Municipal and District Chief Executives from the Sekyere-Kumawu, Asante Akyem South and Sekyere East districts as as well as the Asante Akyem Central Municipality who share borders with the Asante Akyem North district and in which jurisdiction the menace of nomadic cattle and their herdsmen is very pronounced. 

Also in attendance were representatives of the various state security agencies including the General Officer Commanding the Central Command of the Ghana Armed Forces. 

At the meeting, the new Asante Akyem North District Police Commander was introduced to the people amidst cheers. 

The MP for the area, Andy Appiah Kubi, disclosed that government is working on a National Grazing Bill which when enacted into law, will ensure an effective control of cattle into and across the country. 

He alleged that some of the cattle owners tried to bribe him and the DCE with an amount of 100 thousand Ghana Cedis under the pretense of helping the two of them to defray part of their political campaign cost. 

The MP said the two of them however rejected the said money. 

The Queen mother of the Agogo Paramount area, Nana Dwaben Afrakoma, insisted that the traditional authority who holds the customary lands in trust for the people will no longer accommodate the cattle and their managers in the area for which she warned them to leave in their own interest.

The Ashanti Regional Police Commander, COP Ken Yeboah, said even though security Task Force is not perturbed by the latest gun attacks on its members in evacuating the cattle from the area, the people should not take the laws into their hands and attack the cattle or their managers. 

COP Ken Yeboah dispelled allegations that the police have been lenient with the herdsmen in their suspected complicity in the atrocities in the area saying that the complainants must always back their claims with evidence to help with prosecution.

The Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei Mensah, expressed the hope that the ongoing operation would be effectively completed by the end of the year to restore peace and security in the district.

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