A committee has recommended the ejection of Fulani herdsmen together with their cattle from the Afram Plains area to restore law and order to the locality. The seven-member committee was set up by the Ashanti Regional Security Council to investigate the cause of the April 30 disturbances in which a police commander and several others were injured at Agogo in the Asante Akim North Municipality. The committee also recommended the transfer of the District Police Commander, ASP Samuel Kofi Odame, and the Registrar of the Traditional Council. There has been bad blood between residents and the herdsmen over the years culminating in a violent demonstration on April 30, 2010 against Nana Akuoko Sarpong, the paramount chief and his elders for allegedly giving consent to the Fulani herdsmen to graze their cattle on farms. The chairman of the committee of enquiry, James Ebenezer Kobina Dadson, told Joy News the activities of the Fulani herdsmen have led to low agriculture production. “We did extensive investigation into the situation in the Afram Plains area, and you know this area is supposed to be the food basket of the country but because of the herdsmen and the grazing methods they used regarding their cattle, farming activities are not able to progress within the area.” He said even though the herdsmen have valid documents to some plots of land their animals can graze on, they failed to control their movement, often allowing them to stray into other peoples’ farmlands to destroy their produce. The cattle also enter forest reserves to graze, he remarked. The situation, Mr Kobina Dadson noted, has been causing fears in the people, preventing them from going to their farms. He further stated: “We also observed that the source of drinking water in the various communities have been contaminated by the cattle and so boreholes must be constructed for the communities.” Story by Isaac Essel/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana