 to relocate to other countries although they preferred to live in Ghana. Also, the opportunities for resolving farmer-herder conflicts and providing cooperative avenues are seriously hindered by many of these exclusion policies. Tonah (2002) has stated that state expulsion exercises sending pastoralists out of Ghana have rather increased farmer-herder conflicts. Pastoralists’ local connections and ties with some chiefs, stock owners and cattle businessmen protect them from the expulsions because some of the cattle are owned by these people. A cursory look at conflict development from the 1980s to date clearly shows that the main justification for the state expulsions which is to end conflicts has failed, and rather has seen increased attacks and deaths of local farmers and pastoralists.
Both Fulani pastoralists and local community members are armed to defend themselves, making violent clashes almost inevitable. In Agogo, whilst police records from 2009 to March 2013 show 12 violent deaths in the area involving farmer-pastoralist attacks, local community farmers in an FGD counted 21 deaths of community members in the same period. Gushiegu which hitherto had no records of violent farmer-pastoralists has also seen violent attacks since 2011 with 14 pastoralists being killed within three days (6 to 9 December 6 2011). These events have even lessened interaction between the Ghanaian society and Fulani pastoralists and therefore negatively affected efforts to end violence, armed robbery and crime. A police officer succinctly puts as ‘if we continue to see the Fulani in a very difficult light, those of them who are good will not cooperate in exposing the bad ones.’ As pastoralism is being pushed to the blink of collapse with continuous expulsions and exclusion of Fulani, many of them especially in Agogo, are relocating to other countries such as Burkina Faso.
This paper analyzes various prejudices and stereotypes in Ghanaian national and local policies, discourses and practices that have contributed to exclusion of Fulani pastoralists in terms of their access to resources, land, belonging and settlements in local communities. National and local discourses have regarded Fulani pastoralists including those of second- and third-generation as migrants and non-citizens. Besides, the paper shows that these prejudices, stereotypes and practices of exclusion have affected and structured relations between the pastoralists and local people, especially farmers. There are less chances of pastoralists’ cooperation with local people, as well as Fulani integration into society; rather, these attitudes contribute to an escalation of violence in cases of conflict. Whilst we refuse to generalize that all people in Ghana hold these views against the Fulani, there are clear indicators that in local attitudes, discourses and policies, media reports and government action have overtly and covertly excluded and marginalized Fulani. These are mainly seen in national expulsion exercises, local community evictions and lack of access and rights to resource uses in the community. National and local polices and discourses on Fulani pastoralists need rethinking. Fulani are not homogeneous, and each individual Fulani engaged in crime or bad behaviour does not need to represent social categorizations that blame the Fulani as a whole group. Ghanaian media discourse is a major force that contributes to the social and cognitive categorizations of Fulani.
Fulani which is derived from Hausa is the English term for these pastoralists. Fula is derived from the Manding languages and is also used in English. Fulɓe is the original term for the people. This has been adopted into English, often spelt Fulbe. In French, Fulani are called Peuls. See Davidheiser and Luna (2008). From Complementarity to Conflict: A Historical Analysis of Farmer-Fulbe Relations in West Africa. African Journal on Conflict Resolution, 8 (1): 77–104.
Ghana’s 2010 Population and Housing Census categorized ethnic groups into eight: Akans (47.5%), Mole Dagbani (16.6%), Ewe (13.9%), Ga-Dangme (7.4.1%