Bediakokrom (B/A), 16th Aug.1999 - Nana Bediako Ababio, Chief of Bediakokrom, near Mim, is demanding 10 million cedis from Messrs Mota Compenhia, a Portuguese construction firm undertaking the 54-kilometre European Union-sponsored Noberkaw-Gambia No 2 asphalt road. The compensation is for the alleged destruction of a cemetery belonging to the people of Bediakokrom.
Nana Bediako Ababio told the press that four persons had mysteriously died within two weeks after the desecration of the cemetery for the chiefs, fetish priests and the public.
He said mysterious deaths had never been known in the history of Bediakokrom. He, therefore, attributed the "catastrophe" to the failure of the contractors to notify the elders to perform certain customary rites before the contractors exhumed graves.
Nana Ababio was demanding ten million cedis from the construction firm to enable him to perform rituals to prevent further "mysterious deaths in the area." He warned that the elders of the area would not hesitate to take court action against the contractors if the amount was not paid within three weeks. The chief and elders of Bediakokrom have petitioned the contractors through the Mim Traditional Council, demanding the amount. Copies of the petition were sent to the District Chief Executive and the Resident Engineer of Roads, Ghana Highway Authority.
Meanwhile, Nana Ababio and the fetish priest of the area have reburied skeletons exhumed following the destruction of the cemetery at a secret place after the performance of customary rites.
