Residents of Emena in the Oforikrom Municipality of the Ashanti Region have expressed fear after recording four mysterious deaths in one month after cemetery desecration.

According to them, they suspect such mysterious deaths have hit the community following the destruction of the town's old cemetery and some sacred places by a private individual.

The residents said while it was natural to see one live a life and die, recent deaths in the community beat their imagination as they are finding it difficult to understand how the four deaths recorded in the past one month occurred.

Some residents in an interview with OTEC News reporter, Jacob Agyenim Boateng on Monday, August 7, 2023, said the terror aspect of the whole situation is that, most of the deaths recorded are young energetic youth between the ages of 20 to 50 who showed no sign of illness.

"Just recently we saw a private developer destroying the community's cemetery and a sacred place which has lasted for over four hundred years; this is a place where our Chiefs perform annual rituals for the welfare of the town but has been destroyed now".

"We the youth in the community strongly believe that, the destruction of these two sites have angered our ancestors, causing these deaths", Kofi Boateng said.

Background

A private developer on July 6, 2023 while trying to make way for her building destroyed a part of the Emena Cemetery.

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 bodies were exhumed, causing alarm among residents.

Chiefs and the police in the area have taken charge of the investigation.

Yet to perform rituals

After exactly one month of the incident, chiefs in the area are yet perform rituals at the site to pacify the gods.

Youth in the area are suspecting that the failure on the part of the Chiefs to do the rituals is the cause of deaths in the community.

They have thus called on the Chief to act swiftly to avoid additional deaths.

Ban on burials

Following the incident, residents are finding it difficult to conduct burials forcing them to keep their dead relatives in the morgue.

Meanwhile, the Assembly member of the area, Kenneth Owusu Bediako said no burial is to be held in the community until elders perform the rituals.

He added that the matter has been referred to the Manhyia Palace for amicable solution.