The Berekum Traditional Council has issued a response following reports of a Ghanaian investor allegedly being instructed to relocate his GHS1 million goat farm from its land due to taboo concerns.

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The council extended an invitation to the implicated investor for a meeting, aiming to delve into the core of the matter.

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The Chief of Senasi and Kontihene of Berekum Traditional Council, Osahene Asomah Agyeman Sabi II, clarified that the council has not made any such decision.

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Nana Agyeman Sabi II emphasized that Fredrick Benneh Frimpong, the investor and Founder/CEO of Semanhyia Learning and Development Farms, a prominent livestock breeding facility in Berekum Senase, should initiate dialogue with the council to address the deadlock.

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“I don’t know whoever gave him that order. Because we haven’t met on it at the Tradition Council level and that place happens to be the highest decision-making body for the traditional area. We’ve not met, we’ve not taken any decision over his removal from our stool land.

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“I would just advise him. He should come down and let us talk and see how best (sic) because if the land would reject you, you wouldn’t have been there by now,” he said in a JoyNews interview aired on Wednesday, January 10, 2024.

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Benneh Frimpong disclosed that the chiefs of the Berekum area have asked that he evacuate his goats from the land in two weeks.

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According to him, the evacuation, the chiefs explained, is due to a long-standing taboo that banishes goats from the town.

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He explained that despite the existence of the taboo since his childhood, it was not exactly followed until a recent funeral of a chief prompted the slaughter of stray goats to enforce the taboo.

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“In fact, when this order came, people were spreading rumours, everybody had something to say, and in about three days, a group of young guys with machetes came to the community and killed all the goats in the community. Everybody was very annoyed, angry, and marvelled,” he said on his YouTube channel, Farming in Africa.

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Providing further details, he said he was summoned to the chief’s palace and was told to evacuate the land in two weeks.

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Some members of the Berekum community have also said that they lost their goat farms after the order by chiefs and traditional rulers of the community.

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According to them, the traditional rulers barred the rearing of goats in the community after an oracle revealed to them that it was the cause of some misfortunes in Berekum.

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