Residents of Sekondi-Takoradi are calling on the managers of the metropolis to tighten security at the Takoradi cemetery after about 30 graves were ransacked by unknown persons.
Some relatives, who rushed to the site after reports of the desecration were aired on radio on Wednesday, expressed their dissatisfaction with the maintenance of the cemetery and the lack of security measures.
Relatives were seen fixing the graves of their loved ones at the time of Citi News’ visit to the site on Thursday.
“An uncle heard that there had been a raid at the cemetery, and I came and saw my mom’s grave in that state. So, I came here this morning to repair it. When I heard about it, I was a bit skeptical, but unfortunately, I came and saw my mom’s grave in that state. The authorities should come in and provide security here because when you look around, you can see that the place is in a mess, and they should tidy it up because that is the reason why the people had the chance to do what they did,” one resident said.
In a reaction, the Environmental Health Officer of the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly, Abdul Karim Hudu, told Citi News that the assembly is yet to identify the motivation behind the ransacking or the items stolen from the graves.
He further assured that security would be provided to secure the cemetery.
“We have boys at the cemetery during the day who normally sit there to take care of those who want to weed around the graves of their dead. But in the evening, they are gone, so I suspect that they did that in the night because there is no security.”
“The measures that we want to take are to go and weed the place and make sure that we have security there, and we have informed the police to be patrolling there so that those who do that can be arrested when they come back again.”
