Page 116 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 12(1) (2024)

clearing bushes during the dry season helped to places in Kumase. These included bushes close
provide an unconducive environment that drove to Wesley College, abattoir areas, and the Ag-
the tsetse flies away. In addition, their exposure ricultural Cadbury area. The abattoirs were be-
to sunlight also destroyed the pupae. lieved to be danger zones for persons to con-
The clearing crew was grouped into gangs; tract trypanosomiasis. A report from the office
the first gang was in charge of the felling of trees of public health indicates that there was a dras-
while the second gang was in charge of grass tic reduction in the incidence of flies in Asante
cutting. This exercise was successful due to the after embarking on this exercise (PRAAD, Ku-
indirect rule system, which used the traditional mase, ARG.1/14/16. Notes on Kumase Clearing
leaders or nature heads (chiefs) to influence or and Tsetse flies, 1936)).
compel the local population to adhere to their After taking into consideration the im-
administrative goals at the local level (Mamdani mense difficulties involved in clearing the ter-
116 1999). A letter from the Chief Commissioner to ritories of Asante, especially when it was not-
the District Commissioner highlighted the im- ed that the cutting down of economic crops
portance of the local chiefs in the exercise (site such as cocoa could double the cost of clearing
studia universitatis hereditati, letnik 12 (2024), številka 1 / volume 12 (2024), number 1
clearing). Their roles included organizing com- in Asante, which was already five times higher
munal labour in areas that needed clearing, and than the northern territories, the Committee
the supply of funds to the colonial administra- for trypanosomiasis still proposed the forma-
tion to embark on an anti-trypanosomiasis cam- tion of paid gangs assisted with communal la-
paign (PRAAD, Kumase, ARG.1/14/16, Tset- bour organized by the indigenous people. How-
se Eradication-Kumase, 23rd November, 1936). ever, colonial action over a wider area was to be
This shows that the support of the traditional deferred until an expert survey of Asante threw
chiefs was consequential in ensuring the success further light on the extent to which the vari-
of this policy. The aim of aggressive clearing was ous districts in Asante were infected (PRAAD,
to have a wider impact on the population. In the Accra, ADM 11/1/156, Human Trypanosomia-
early 1930s and 40s, the colonial administra- sis Committee and best means of combating,
tion noted that the source of the flies was from 1935).
the Nabbogo River in the northern territories.
Therefore, an aggressive system of clearing was Farming and Spraying Programmes/Policies
adopted along the bend of the river. Reports as Preventive Health Care Strategies
from the medical and public health department Still focussing on site clearing, one of the prop-
indicated that there was a drastic decline in tset- ositions put forward for the eradication of the
se flies in Asante after the exercise (PRAAD, menace of human trypanosomiasis was the need
Kumase, ARG.1/14/16, Site Clearing, 1936 and for an improved system of indigenous farming,
PRAAD, Kumase, ARG.1/14/16. Notes on Ku- that is, the reduction in shifting cultivation to
mase Clearing and Tsetse flies, 1936). control G. longipalpis. Such a system was not
Significantly, there was also defensive clear- only intended to ward off the vector, as put for-
ing, which was aimed at safeguarding the popu- ward by Dr Morris; it was at the same time to
lation from the attack of the tsetse during their serve as a means of improving the food value of
normal work or while they were travelling along the crops of the farmers, thus raising the gener-
the main routes. Defensive clearing involved al standard of health of the indigenous people
clearing the banks of rivers and streams, cattle ((PRAAD, Accra, ADM 11/1/156, Human Tryp-
paths, road networks closer to tsetse-prone ar- anosomiasis Committee and best means of com-
eas and any other area suspected to host tsetse bating, 1935). Giving evidence before the Trypa-
flies. In 1936, the director of public health em- nosomiasis Committee, the Acting Director of
barked on some general clearings in suspected Agriculture stated that the problem of shifting