Tension has erupted at Teacher Mante, a community in Ayensuano district along the Accra to Kumasi highway of Eastern Region over the alleged sale of a public cemetery to an unidentified developer.
Angry chiefs and residents, donned in red and black attire, staged a protest at the cemetery Monday morning claiming it was graded under the cover of darkness with graves already looted.
According to Nana Oheneaku Asamaning (I), the Baamuhene of Teacher Mante, they confronted Asante Bediatuo at the site, who asserts to be the chief of Okanta, accusing him of authorizing the demolition of the cemetery for a project supposedly sanctioned by Okyenhene.
The Baamuhene reported the incident to Teacher Mante Police station, but Asante Bediatuo did not appear.
The Baamuhene expressed disbelief in Okyenhene’s involvement, stating, “Our king knows the implications of destroying the royal cemetery; he won’t do that.”
He linked the demolition to recent misfortunes in the community, including a destructive rainstorm that damaged almost half of houses.
The community vows to resist the project, demanding the return of remains and bones looted from the graves.
This incident adds to the growing concerns of land grabbing and indiscriminate sale of public cemeteries, creating tensions in various communities along the Nsawam to Apedwa stretch of the Accra to Kumasi Highway.
Last year, a similar incident occurred at Amanase where a Royal cemetery was also sold to an investor for construction of a fuel station without the consent of the local chiefs.
The incident forced the chiefs to exhume skeletons of the human bodies for keep at the palace creating uproar among residents.
On April 20, 2023 Suhum District Police Command retrieved skeletons of exhumed human bodies from Amanase Chief’s Palace to the morgue to de-escalate the tension.
starrfm.com
