The General Secretary of Tabital Pulaaku International – Ghana chapter, Yakubu Musah Barry, has made an alarming claims regarding the denial of citizenship and discriminatory practices faced by the Fulani community in Ghana.
In a recent press conference held in Accra, the secretary expressed concerns over the increasing marginalization and challenges faced by the Fulani people, emphasizing the urgent need for attention from the government.
“We have good leadership who is calming down the nerves and we don’t pray one day they will not listen to us. So, we don’t want to get there. Denial of citizenship about this very particular tribe. We talked about the crime. The discrimination being meted to us with our children whereby our forefathers built this nation, there is no doubt about that, the president of the council of Fulani chiefs was born in the barracks. His father was an Ex-military officer who served in the West African Frontier force before the Gold Coast Regiment. I speaking, my father served in the West Africa Frontier forces and was part of the Gold Coast Regiment but today, I am being denied citizenship,” he said.
According to Barry, the discrimination extends beyond the Fulani community to the Zongo people as well.
He highlighted the challenges faced by Muslims when dealing with official institutions, particularly the passport office and the National Identification Authority (NIA).
“If you go to the passport office of any establishment or NIA and you mention your name and it happens to be a Muslim, you are scrutinized well. They will take you through several interviews before granting your request. But if you go and you say you are Kwame or Torgbui, then you are through, and this is very serious such that we have to call the attention of the government. The discrimination, where it is going is dangerous,” Barry asserted.