An International relations analyst, Dr. Vladimir Antwi Danso, has said Operation Cow leg, a task-force tasked by government to deal with nomadic herdsmen allegedly causing havoc in parts of the country, is bound to fail again.
According to him, those are just knee-jerk approaches to the issue which needs proper solution.
“It is one of the kinetic ways of solving a problem using full force. But this is not the first time we have operation cow leg and I believe that is not the way of resolving it. Maybe in the interim, the specific Agogo situation yes, but what about all over Ghana?”
Speaking on the Point Blank Segment on Eyewitness News, Dr. Antwi Danso explained that most of the herdsmen who are bearing the brunt of Operation Cow leg are usually not the rightful owners of the cattle hence such strategy must be re-looked.
“It is not the herdsmen who own the cattle. Medical officers, military officers, chiefs, politicians among others own the cattle so why are we blaming the herdsmen? The very people who own the cattle what have we done to them? I’m not saying what they are doing is good. If they rape women and kill people, that is criminal and we have to deal with them.”
Background
Following complaints of alleged atrocities being committed by nomadic herdsmen and the destruction of farms in Agogo in the Ashanti Region and parts of the Eastern Region, government re-launched Operation Cow leg which comprised police and military personnel tasked to flush out such people from those areas.
Recently, 200 additional personnel were deployed to Agogo and Sekyere Afram Plains districts after some military and police officers were shot at Agogo.
A statement signed by a Deputy Minister of Information, Curtis Perry Kwabia Okudzeto, said the joint security team has been tasked to “push back the herdsmen from new areas they have occupied, arrest perpetrators of recent acts of violence for prosecution, and augment the efforts of Operation Cow leg, an ongoing security operation aimed at dealing with the activities of herdsmen in the area.”
Ranching is the solution
But speaking on Point Blank on Tuesday, Dr. Danso said the only solution to the issue is to resort to what he referred to as ranching.
“It’s about time we started ranching system. The breeding of cattle in Ghana must have some modernity to it,” he said.
Antwi Danso explained that with ranching, cattle can be taken care of professionally without causing havoc to any farm or property, adding that “if we don’t do this the Fulani menace will continue forever and forever.”
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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
