Goat keepers in the Berekum West District of the Bono Region on Wednesday hit the streets of Jinijini, the district capital to register their displeasure against the Berekum Traditional Council’s order to evacuate the animals from the traditional area.

Their protest followed a directive by Nana Akosua Ameyaaa III, the Paramount Queen-mother of the Berekum Traditional Area for all goat keepers and rearers to move the animals from the Berekum stool land.

The Ghana News Agency (GNA) gathered from the protestors that the traditional council claimed it was taboo to keep or rear goats on the Berekum stool land, basically because doing so would invoke the wrath of ‘Asuo koraa’ a local deity in the area.

Clad in red armbands and headgears, the protestors barricaded portions of the principal street of Jinijinji causing usual vehicular traffic in the town.

Speaking in an interview with the GNA at Jinijini, Mr Oppong Tia, a former Assembly Member of the Suntreso Electoral Area in the district, and the spokesperson for the protestors, expressed regret that the traditional council did not give the goat keepers enough time to evacuate their animals.

“The traditional council has formed a task force going around the communities to seize the goats,” he alleged, describing the action as unfair, saying some of the goat keepers had invested hugely in their economic activities.

Mr Tia said goat keeping remained the only source of economic livelihoods for some of the people in the area and called for government intervention, saying collapsing the goat business would bring economic hardships to the keepers.

When contacted, Nana Hinneh Adawua II, the Twafohene (sub-chief) of Jinijini confirmed the traditional council’s directive, however condemned and described the order as unlawful.

Nonetheless, he advised the protestors against lawlessness, asking them to endeavour to channel their grievances through the appropriate quarters for redress.