New Madina is probably the only exclusively Fulani settlement in Greater Accra.
During its sixty year existence it has become well known beyond Ghana, and it has affected the lives of many Ghanaian Fulani. Here is the story of the founding of this community, as viewed from Alhaji Diallo5 s perspective.
Alhaji Diallo,..following cows
In 1929 a young man by the name of Diallo left his parental home of Mardarga in Burkina Faso. Diallo was then aged about seventeen. He travelled with two of his relatives, Yika (his father’s brother) and Barry (his sister’s son). The three men had been given a contract to herd cattle from Mardarga to a village in the northern Volta region of Ghana, then the Gold Coast.
The entire journey was made on foot and took one month to complete. At the end of their journey, the cattle owner paid them.
Diallo stayed in the northern Volta Region, with his two relatives, for two months. He got a job as a hired herdsman for a local cattle owner. After two years he relocated to another village in the same area where he lived working as a contract herder. In roughly 1933 Diallo and Barry left Ghana for Lome, in present day Togo. They left the Volta region because the cocoa crops had been burnt, leaving many people in the area too poor to buy meat - thus making it difficult for him to find work. In Togo he once again found employment as a hired herdsman.
After two years in Togo Diallo set out to return home to Mardarga, Burkina Faso. However, when he got to Benin, he changed his mind and decided to stay there. In Benin he discovered that he could make a good living as a cattle trader.
At about the age of twenty-five, Diallo relocated again. This time he decided to return to Ghana and settled in a place near Accra called Rouga. Rouga is a Fulfulde word meaning wuro na 'i, cattle camp. Once again, he worked there as a hired herdsman for a Kwahwu man. Barry and
Diallo were now living together again with two other Fulani cattle herders (unrelated men). One of the herders was from Burkina and the other from Niger. (See Map in Appendix III of ‘Ruga’.)
At the age of roughly twenty-eight Diallo settled in New Madina. He was forced to leave Rouga.
A soldiers training camp had been established at Rouga. According to Alhaji Diallo, the
‘whites’ complained about the flies that the cattle attracted and the general smell and unpleasantness so close to their training ground. The cattle camp was forced to relocate.
Diallo and Bariy found themselves a piece of land in a Ga area called Nmai Dzom, near the Diallo and Barry to live in. Barry and Diallo lived in this manner for several years.
After a few years in Nmai Dzom the cattle owners decided to sell their cattle. They therefore no longer required the services of Diallo and Barry. By now, Diallo had already acquired a herd of cattle of his own. He had bought the cattle with the money he had made during his stay in Benin when he was trading in cattle. Diallo and Barry went on to spend another eight years in Nmai Dzom developing their own herds. They then thought it best that they acquire land in their own names in order to settle down and make legal claim to the land.
Atta did not own the land, he was simply the custodian. He therefore introduced the two men to the traditional Ga chief of the area, Nii Kortey. Nii demanded two bottles of akpeteshie each from Diallo and Barry. Upon making these customary payments, Diallo now became the ‘legal’
owner of the land. No legally binding documents were signed, nor was the land registered with the municipal authorities
On his newly acquired site, some several hundred meters} away from the site on which he had ^ originally settled, Diallo constructed a permanent shelter. Soon after Diallo and Barry settled,
another Fulani man, a Nigerien, by the name of Tal, joined them. Tal had been brought to New Madina by his employer, a local Ga man whose herds he was looking after.
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These three men, Diallo, Barry and Tal were pioneers, they are renowned throughout the Fulani community.95 Not only did their herds o f cattle expand, so too did their respective families. The ties that bound them, of kinship, (in the case of Diallo and Barry), common ethnic origin, language and livelihood were further cemented by a series of marriage alliances (see Chapter Four). New Madina today plays a pivotal role in the welcoming of newly-arrived Fulani migrants and other visitors.
Cattle, concrete & intra-national mobility
The expansion of the city of Accra was the main factor that forced Alhajis Diallo and Barry to leave Rouga (now a densely populated area of Accra) in search of new pastures. The spread and urbanization of Accra continues.96 The New Madina of today is not the area of bush that the three men first encountered, but is now a rapidly expanding town on the peri-urban fringe of Accra.
When Alhaji Diallo first settled in New Madina it was remote. Initially the growth and urbanization of New Madina was slow because of its isolated nature.
There were no major roads leading to the area. There was no electricity. The
Temporary labour migration of young workers, remittance of earnings and continued orientation to the homeland.
Prolonging of stay and the development of social networks based on kinship or common area of origin and the need for mutual help in the new environment.
Family reunion, growing consciousness of long-term settlement, increasing orientation towards the receiving country, and emergence of ethnic communities with their own institutions (associations, shops, cafes, agencies, professions).
Permanent settlement which, depending on the actions of the government and population of the receiving country, leads either to secure legal status and eventual citizenship, or to political exclusion, socioeconomic marginalization and the formation of permanent ethnic minorities.
96 On the historical expansion of Accra see Acolatse (1974) and Agbemanu (1967).
(constructed by Diallo, Barry and Tal). In 1994, the road linking New Madina with Madina, an equally rapidly expanding urban settlement, was completed. This has facilitated transport and has effectively opened up New Madina to property developers. It is prime site land and the recent spurt in the growth of private houses and housing estates in the area attests to this. Speaking of the urbanization of New Madina, Issa Diallo, one o f Alhaji Diallo’s sons said:
Initially it [urbanization] was gradual because people felt that it [New Madina] was remote. There weren’t many facilities. The road was bad.
There was water but no electricity. The urbanization and encroachment has been gradual, but because of the improvement of the road people have started rushing in. Others had already built [their homes] but didn’t move in, but people began moving into their own buildings, others began building as fast as possible and moving in.
Now, the problem is that water is not flowing. When the water starts flowing everywhere here will be inhabited. The water problem is slowing down the rate of building. There are physical factors, the masons have to buy tankers of water. This increases the cost of building.
(Issa Diallo)
As a result of the development o f New Madina, mainly in the form o f privately constructed residential homes, the expanding herds of the Diallo, Barry and Tal families have been relocated over time to different areas. According to Issa, the carrying capacity of the land has been reduced. In the past, the land available to graze the animals was extensive and each family could take between two and three hundred head o f cattle out to graze in one day. The three families have moved their herds to varying degrees. All the Barry family’s cattle are elsewhere.
Alhaji Diallo has the largest number of cattle left in the area. However the movement of these cattle away from New Madina continues. This is the story of the movements of Diallo’s cattle to date:
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Viability: The relocation o f the Diallo fam ily’s herds
Diallo’s herds of cattle expanded at such a fast rate that at one time, he had over 700 head of cattle in three large kraals in New Madina. It became increasingly difficult to maintain so many cattle in the area. Thirty years ago Diallo first decided to move some of his cattle to Apollonia.
Five years later they were further sub-divided and some were taken to Ochibleku from New Madina. Twenty years ago a further division of herds took place and some were sent to Asutsuare Junction and Katamanso. Seventeen years ago a further kraal of cattle was sent to Juapong in the Volta Region. This has been the most recent of the major movements of Diallo’s cattle and the furthest. At present, Diallo has one cattle kraal in New Madina with over 150 head of cattle. (See Map 2.2 for location of places mentioned.)
The three families have had to move their cattle and relocate some of their members in order to cope with the rapid development o f their area. As Issa pointed out, ‘People are moving in. In years to come, the people of New Madina will be just like the people of Nima’. 97 In other words, he envisaged a future in which, the once rural area of, New Madina will become a large, heavily populated, urban centre.
Issa also pointed to other potential impacts upon the lives of the Fulani in New Madina as a result of the relocation of their cattle. As the cattle are moved to gain extra cash from the sale of milk is lost.
Another result of the rapid development of the area is the increasing conflict between the cattle herders and the local agriculturalists. In the past
97 Nima is a d e n s e l y populated area of Accra. There is a large M u s l i m population
farmers have had their crops trampled. Building-block makers, who have left their bricks to dry out in the sun, have had them crushed by the cattle. Issa Diallo said of the situation,
With farmers it is more or less normal, whenever you have animals and a farm, your animals will walk over [the fields]. You have to discuss [with the farmers] and compensate them. This [the incidence of trampling] has even reduced for there is not enough space for farming. It [trampling] is seasonal. When the crops are harvested the cattle can move freely, but now because of the rains, when people are planting [it is a difficult time] .. .they [farmers] do their nurseries in the bush and before you realize you [your cattle]
have destroyed it! All those things are normal [i.e. cattle destroying farms] like cars and accidents. Once there are cars then accidents will never die down.
The following incident occurred two years ago in the Barry compound, the story was narrated to me by Sidiq.
A case o f cattle & conflict
In 1995, the Barry family were involved in a local dispute. Their grazing cattle trampled upon, and destroyed, the red pepper and tomato nursery of a local Ga man. The owner of the nursery reported the case to the local politician (Assembly man) as well as to the police. The police came to the Barry household and detained one of the Barry sons who happened to be in the compound at the time. He was imprisoned at Tema police station.
Sidiq, on hearing that Iris brother had been taken away by the police, went to the police station where his brother was behind bars. From the station he went to Michel camp (military barracks) to find a soldier friend of the family.
The aggrieved farmer, the local politician, tire police and the soldier all congregated in the Barry compound to discuss the situation. According to Sidiq the farmer initially demanded compensation of one million cedis to cover, not only the cost of his lost crops but also, the transport costs and general inconvenience he had experienced as a result. The Bany family refused to pay this sum. After further negotiation it was agreed that they should pay the farmer
here and it is considered to be a z o n g o .
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50,000 cedis which they duly did. Later that same day Barry’s son was released by the Chief of police.
Concluding remarks
In examining New Madina in detail, we have seen how stories of ‘following cows’
to Ghana, which are common in the narratives of many Fulani men and women, have led in this particular instance to the establishment and development of a localized Fulani settlement. The establishment of this one area of settlement has led to the development o f a self-sustaining system of migratory movements. Urban dwellers in Greater Accra, as well as those living in rural areas, all know of New Madina. It has become a pivotal point in the chain of migration to Greater Accra and an important hub of communication among those already resident in Accra, straddling, as it does, the rural/urban interface.
At the beginning of this Chapter Sidiq’s account told of how he acquired his first cow. Upon the death of his father, Alhaji Barry, one o f the founding fathers o f the Fulani settlement in New Madina, Sidiq inherited forty-five cows.
He therefore has his own substantial herd of cattle. These cows are located in the Volta Region (moved out because of the rapid and ongoing urbanization of New Madina) and represent another phase in the ongoing movement and relocation of Fulani individuals and their cattle over space and through time. The extent to which people are investing time and effort into building up their herds within Ghana and spreading them out to various regions shows, in some ways, the extent to which Ghana has become a home for many Fulani today. Some urban as well as rural dwellers have cattle back home in their countries of origin, many more have cattle in Ghana.