Fulani Menace: General Secretary Calls For Proper Law Enforecement

                                             
The General Secretary of the Fulani Association of Ghana, Mr. Yakubu Musah Barry has made a passionate appeal to Ghanaians to avoid various prejudice against Fulani herdsmen in the country.

 He is calling on the government to allow the laws governing their activities to take their course in addressing issues concerning Fulani herdsmen rather than intimidating them. 
Mr. Musah stated that most criminal cases that are reported in the country are tagged with Fulani herdsmen and are mostly tackled with emotions by the security agencies.
This he says has resulted in a series of intimidation and frustrations against the Fulani people. 
He indicated that typical stereotypes and prejudices of Fulani include Fulani as armed robbers, rapists, violent and uncivilized. 
He explained in some instances, robbers disguise themselves as Fulani supposedly speaking and dressing like Fulani because these armed robbers know the public stereotype of Fulani as armed robbers. 
He said these acts infringe upon their fundamental human rights and freedoms, however, calling on the government and the security forces in the country to use the appropriate means to reprimand Fulani herdsmen who may be found guilty in their actions.  
He however advised the Fulani youth in the country to desist from the unwarranted behaviors exhibited by some of them and focus on their education for the betterment of their future. 
The ‘Fulani’ is not one of the recognized ethnic groups in Ghana, despite contact with the Ghanaian populace for over a century. With the exception of a few censuses that purposely included and counted Fulani as part of the population of Ghana, their numbers are not known and they are deliberately not registered in the national census. 
In national elections, second-and third-generation Fulani pastoralists are not allowed to vote, unless locally dominant political parties see them as enhancing their electoral chances. 
In the National Identification Exercise which was meant to compile a national database and identity cards for both citizen and non-citizens resident in Ghana, Fulani pastoralists were either refused to be registered in some areas or made to pay money by registration officials. 
Thus, at the national and community levels, Fulani pastoralists are excluded from socio-political participation and access to resources. Ghanaian citizenship and immigration policies have tended to put Fulani pastoralists in a negative light. 
Fulani per the 1992 Republic of Ghana even if born in Ghana but having no parent or grandparent born in Ghana before 1957, are explicitly excluded from Ghanaian citizenship except through marriage or naturalization after long stays. 
There have been stated policies of Fulani pastoralists’ expulsion from Ghana termed ‘Operation Cow Leg’ which has been carried out several times. 
Besides, local community policies of Fulani pastoralists’ evictions, their limited access to land leases, and their conflicts with local farmers have prompted community evictions and attacks as well as state/government interventions. 
These infringements and the production of stereotypes and prejudices they entailed have affected the relationship between local communities and Fulani pastoralists.
 Stereotypes and prejudices of Fulani pastoralists go beyond just discourses of them being non-citizens but are rather based on cognitive social biases and categorization. 
In examining the stereotypes and prejudices vis-à-vis the Fulani in Ghana, particularly the pastoral Fulani, this paper argues that these attitudes towards Fulani pastoralists in Ghana have become an important part of national and local community policies and discourses, help to exclude the pastoralists and to structure pastoralist-community relations.