Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin
The Okyenhene, Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin, has given families in the Akyem Abuakwa Traditional Area a month to retrieve dead bodies of their relatives from the morgue for interment.
This is to free the hospital morgues of unusual congestion that has come about as a result of the “decision of families to indefinitely postpone the burial and funeral rites of departed relatives” in the face of the ban on social and public gathering by government to contain the COVID-19.
In a statement copied to the security agencies, the Okyenhene urged the public to avoid an unhealthy situation where corpses left in the morgues during the stated period would be buried in mass graves.
The Okyenhene, who doubles as the President of the Eastern Regional House of Chiefs, noted that since the ban on all public funeral ceremonies remains in force, the order is only in respect of burial activities and private customary observances.
In a statement signed by the State Secretary, D.M. Ofori Atta, the overlord of Akyem Abuakwa Traditional Area urged all Nananoms to ensure that their subjects accordingly comply with the directive.
“In accordance with Abuakwa customs, families can convey the body of their departed relative to the house to pay their last respect and necessary customary rites,” the statement explained.
FROM Daniel Bampoe, Kyebi