Tension looms at Kwahu East over killing of cattle by soldiers

Cattle owners in the various fishing communities on the Afram Lake at the Ahenase Electoral Area in the Kwahu East District of the Eastern Region are seething with anger over the recent indiscriminate shooting of their cattle by some gun-wielding military personnel.

According to them, the military men do that on the orders of the District Chief Executive Officer (DCE), Mr Isaac Agyapong and that has created looming bloody clashes and tension in the area.

Expressing anger and their displeasure at the killing of their cattle, the affected owners who are predominantly Ewes from the Mepe Traditional Area in the North Tongu District of the Volta Region stated that military men aside killing their cattle, put some of the dead cattle in their vehicles and go away with them to their military base at Kwahu Abetifi.

The cattle owners further revealed that sometimes the soldiers point guns at them and threaten to shoot when they prevent the soldiers from taking the dead cattle away.

Due to the worrying development, the affected cattle owners described the situation as a "complete hard criminal practice and unacceptable".

The visibly aggrieved cattle owners are therefore calling on the Akufo-Addo-led government to as a matter of urgency look into the matter by appointing the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service to immediately begin investigations into the frequent shooting incidents at the district.

They maintain that rearing of cattle is the only source of revenue for people in the area since fishing activities on the Afram Lake doesn't yield much for them.

According to them, a total of 400 cattle have so far been killed in the last year by soldiers stationed at Kwahu Abetifi.

They disclosed that in 2018, a total of 75 cattle belonging to Mr. Kwadwo Dekpe were shot and killed by the soldiers without a cause when the cattle were sent to the bush to graze on grass.

They further lamented that the latest shooting of cattle in the district happened on March 4, for which the soldiers killed 95 from six ranches at Kpokope and Tubor at the expense of the cattle owners.

Moreover, some of the cattle which were injured in the shoot out are said to be in critical conditions.

According to the cattle owners, the soldiers claimed the March 4 killing of the animals were just for rehearsals and warned them to take their animals from the area and house them at the government's ranch at Wassa fodder bank, else failure to comply with the directive will amount to more killing of their cattle.

Cattle which were killed on Monday, March 4 belongs to Atsu Dorvu, Agbavitor Adayi, Agbezuge Yididi and sons of Logoti Fiase, all natives from the Mepe Traditional Area in the Volta Region.

They narrated that it was a chilling sight as the lifeless bodies of the cattle, majority being females laid in a pool of blood on the grass as owners scream for help.

According to them, it was a horrific scene as residents in the vicinity tried to outwit the soldiers at the scene to catch a glimpse of the unfolding events.

The cattle owners revealed that the DCE of Kwahu Affram Plains East District Assembly approached and directed them to remove their animals from the Ahenase Electoral Area to be housed at government's cattle ranch at Wawase Fodder bank to serve as the feeding ground for cattle in the area.

According to them, the DCE explained that the Assembly was directed by the government not to allow anybody to rear cattle in the area anymore since the animals have been destroying farm crops.



"We the cattle owners who have the ranches in the fishing communities on the River Afram including Ahenase Electoral Area, Ekye Amanfrom, Akatey, Ketekpa and Adosu among others embraced the initiative and moved our cattle to the ranch since we thought at that time that the ranch would provide the best of animal health services for our livestock.

"But all of the sudden we realised that the feeds the animals were grazing on at the government cattle ranch at Wawase fodder bank were substandard feeds which have made majority of the animals to fall sick and some of them even die".

"And even on more serious note some of the cattle have been stolen in the ranch at Wawase fodder bank and when we confronted the caretakers of the ranch and authorities of the Kwahu East District Assembly they did not give us any tangible reason for our stolen cattle from the state-owned ranch at Wawase," the cattle owners stated emphatically.

The cattle owners condemned goverment because they claim their animals were not receiving the best treatment at the ranch, hence the reason they stopped sending their livestock there.

"We have Fulani herdsmen who have taken good care of the cattle, they guide and control the animals properly when sent to the bush to graze on grass without causing any destruction to farm crops. So why is it that the current DCE of Kwahu East District Assembly would go and hire the services of the gun wildly soldiers to shoot and kill our cattle which are not causing any harm to lives and properties," they asked.

Against this backdrop, the cattle owners called on President Addo to immediately intervene in this pressing matter by way of calling the DCE and soldiers to order since their actions and inactions have a tendency to destroy his vision to promote livestock production in the area.

It would be recalled that as part of efforts to end the infractions between Fulani herdsmen and crop farmers in the Kwahu enclaves, the state in collaboration with the African Development Bank (AfDB) constructed and transformed a fodder bank into a ranch at Wawase to house over 5,000 cattle.

The ranch our findings have revealed is operating on modern technique such as the involvement of the veterinary, improved feeds for the cattle and the engagement of workers to ensure the safety of the ranch.

Several efforts made by this paper as at the time of going to press yesterday to get the DCE to respond to the story proved unsuccessful.