Ambrose Dery
The Minister of the Interior, Ambrose Derry, yesterday named Baba Bawumia – a top official of the ministry – as the official link person between the government and the Kwahu Cattle Owners’ Association who petitioned him (minister) about what they claim is a state of insecurity they find themselves in.
In the petition, the cattle owners claimed that soldiers deployed to Kwahuland were implementing a ‘shoot to kill’ policy and had killed in the process many cows in the area.
While denying that President Akufo-Addo had authorized a ‘shoot to kill’ policy, he said, “We need to make clear to criminal elements that their action would determine the reaction of the security agents. We are very concerned when the security agents are attacked.”
The minister made the announcement when the National Chief Imam, Sheikh Osman Nuhu Sharubutu, led a delegation of the Kwahu Cattle Owners’ Association to his office to present a petition to him.
The channel of communication between the ministry and the cattle owners in Kwahuland, he said, would ensure a needed dialogue through which solutions could be found. “In that context, I appreciate the intervention of the National Chief Imam. This ministry wants a channel of communication between it and the cattle owners to regulate especially the influx of foreigners so that they can be documented and given the needed protection and their routes identified. Once we do that we would live together in harmony,” Mr. Dery underscored.
“Government is concerned about the criminal elements who possess assault rifles firearms they are licensed to be in possession of,” he said.
The minister told his guests that President Akufo-Addo had not authorized a ‘shoot and kill’ policy in the Eastern Region as he assured them that their concerns would be looked into.
Mr. Ambrose Dery expressed appreciation to the concerned cattle owners and the Chief Imam for choosing the channel of engagement as opposed to taking the law into their hands under the circumstances.
The president, he said, in pursuit of his interest in ensuring free movement of persons and goods within the West African sub-region, had ordered a 24-hour opening of the country’s borders as opposed to the previous 12-hour period of opening.
The current state of disagreement between cattle owners and crop farmers, the interior minister observed, is a struggle over space – a situation which government is working on with a view to arriving at a permanent solution.
“No ethnic group would be discriminated against. All ethnic groupings are welcome, provided they would operate within the law,” he said, adding that government would not tolerate a situation where security agents would be attacked.
The challenges posed by the clashes between cattle breeders and farmers, he noted, require a multi-ministerial approach to ensure a definite solution; “and this is being looked into.
He recalled how the government contained the breach of peace occasioned by clashes between cattle owners and locals at Agogo, even though a few eruptions cropped up in the aftermath.
Earlier the contents of the petition of the cattle owners were read out to him before the presentation.
The recommendations of the cattle owners included a roadmap to deal with the broad context of the crisis in the short, medium and long terms and the arrest and prosecuting of criminal elements in the cattle farming industry.
In the National Chief Imam’s team were the President of the National Association of Zongo Chiefs, Alhaji Abdul Kadir Tahiru; National Chief Imam of the Ahlunsuna Wal Jamma Islamic sect, Sheikh Umar Ibrahim Imam; Sheikh Shuaib; AlhajI Umaru Baba Isa and Alhaji Gado Mohammed, Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Chief Imam.
By A.R. Gomda