Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of Wenchi, Dr. Prince Kwakye Afriyie, has denied claims that the people of Buasu Kwame Pinsang Electoral Area in the Wenchi Municipality share the only water source in the area with animals.

While he admits that there is an influx of cattle in the area, he states that this phenomenon is nothing new.

Speaking to Samuel Eshun on the Happy Morning Show, he explained: “It is not true that my people are drinking from the same water source as the animals. The case is that when it gets to this season, there are cattle from Cote D’Ivoire that come to that area because of the food they want. This is what becomes a challenge during this season and we are still managing the situation”.

The MCE furthered that the influx of cattle in the area is as a result of the business agreement that the people of Wenchi have with herdsmen from the neighbouring countries.

“It was a special arrangement that communities there have their middlemen who travel as far as Burkina Faso to negotiate with this herdsmen for the payment of some amount of money.

For example, from our research we did last year which has attracted serious attention, for every fifty cattle the herdsmen bring, the middlemen take five cattle and an additional 5000 to 10,000 Ghana Cedis for bringing cattle to their zone. And if the cattle give birth the middlemen have fifty percent share. So you can see that this is a business that they do. These middlemen also come to see the land owners who also negotiate with them to settle things. They also see some of the assembly members to also settle them. So if the cattle destroys someone’s property they settle the disputes there and then. Initially, the cattle coming in were not that much but the numbers started increasing in 2018 and 2019”.

Meanwhile, Dr. Afriyie has shared that the Municipal authorities have engaged with the traditional council of the area to stop the business of allowing cattle into the area for cash and other exchanges. He noted that anyone who is involved in such syndicate will be arraigned before court for the law to deal with such a person.

Background

On Monday, 8th February 2021, Happy FM’s Correspondent for the Bono Region, Augustine Adombire, reported that residents of Buasu Kwame Pinsang Electoral Area in the Wenchi Municipality of the Bono Region have been compelled to share the only water source in the area with animals as these animals have flooded the area from neighbouring countries.

According to him, the sudden influx of cattle in the area started around December 2020 and has gotten worse, especially in the early months of 2021.

He further revealed that people of Wenchi have taken active steps to resolve this situation but to no avail and have promised to take matters into their own hands.