Minister designate calls for team work in resolving Agogo crisis

The Ashanti Region Minister designate Alexander Ackon is calling for an all team effort in fighting the debilitating herdsmen menace in Agogo and other parts of the country.

Mr Ackon who is on his way to becoming the chairman of the Ashanti Region Security Council maintained that a divided front will certainly be suicidal in resolving the canker.

The Ashanti Region, Agogo to be precise has been in the news recently over reports of violence between herdsmen and native farmers.

There have been deaths recorded from both sides with threats of an escalated violence from the feuding parties.

The natives are accusing the herdsmen of maiming, killing, and raping their women whilst the herdsmen also complain of being killed by the natives.

A court had directed that the herdsmen be driven out of Agogo but that order has yet to be executed.

There has been heightened security in the area with intense military, police patrols.

The situation could not have escaped the attention of the Appointment Committee of Parliament.

During vetting on Monday, a member of the Committee Baba Jamal asked the Ashanti Region minister designate what new ideas he is bringing on board to resolve the canker which began in 1997.

Mr Alexander Ackon believes team work by major stakeholders is what is needed to solve the problem.

"The main players in the field should stay united. I am very concerned about that one. Parliamentarians, traditional rulers, REGSEC, Regional Minister we should all stay on the same side of the field and be part of the winning team.

"How united are the players and that will be the first approach. The rest will be acting on what REGSEC has done," he answered.

But a security expert with the Kofi Annan International Peace Keeping Training Centre Dr Kwasi Aning believes a more nuanced approach is needed to fight the canker.

He would rather an intelligence led approach is used in solving the problem. He insisted that persons who sat back and did not pick up intelligence that the two feuding parties were arming themselves for a full blown conflict have failed and should be sacked.