Skeletons Missing At Emena after Cemetery desecration
Some chiefs of Emena in the Ashanti Region have disclosed that dozens of human skeletons are missing after the desecration of the Emena cemetery in the Oforikrom Municipality by a private developer.
The developer has been accused of exhuming the bodies while creating a shortcut road to her house.
The situation sparked fear among residents in the community, with calls on authorities and security in the area to work towards getting the missing bones back.
The chiefs realized this on Wednesday, August 16, 2023, when they embarked on purification rites to appease the dead and the gods over the desecration of the cemetery.
The rituals, according to chiefs in the area, are to prevent bad omen from befalling the families in the community.
Head of the Aduana Family at Emena, Nana Kwabena Boateng, who led the purification exercise, said the community had been exonerated from mishaps.
But anyone involved in the looting of the bones will be severely punished by the gods.
“We needed the bones as part of the rituals to get the dead back to their resting place, but all the exhumed bones are not in the grave. Some unscrupulous people have stolen them for reasons only known to them”.
“The dead need to rest in peace, so we are sending a caution to whoever came for the bones to return them to avoid any calamity befalling them, “He cautioned.
READ ALSO: Family Ordered To Exhume Body Over Non-Payment Of Cemetary Bills
Meanwhile, the youth in the area have vowed to stop individuals from developing structures at the cemetery.
They have therefore appealed to the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II and security agencies to stop construction work at the cemetery.
Background
A private developer destroyed parts of the Emena Cemetery on July 6, 2023, while trying to create a road to her building.
The developer brought trucks to the site, claiming to have obtained a court order to work on the land.
As a result of this development, some dead bodies were exhumed, causing rage among community residents.
One month after the bizarre incident, residents in the area raised concerns over some mysterious deaths in the community, suspecting that failure on the part of chiefs to perform purification rituals was the cause of the deaths.
Following incessant appeals by youth in the area, the chiefs performed special purification rites on Wednesday, August 16, 2023, to appease the gods at the cemetery.
For his part, the Assembly Member of the Area, Kenneth Owusu Bediako, disclosed that the ban on burials had been lifted following the purification rituals.
However, he appealed to the public to consult chiefs in the community for appropriate guidance before any work at the cemetery.
He emphasized that the land in question, according to the records of the municipal assembly and chiefs, remains a cemetery and called on residents in the area to treat it as such.