Doba-Kandiga feud: Family of deceased appeals for police protection to bury their dead

Correspondence from Upper East:

The family of the 59-year-old man who was shot dead at Abempingo in a land dispute in the Doba Traditional area is appealing to authorities to give them Police protection to enable them to perform the burial ceremony to lay the deceased to rest.

The family says all arrangements have been made and everything is set for the interment but the safety of the family as they perform the burial has become a major worry that is still keeping them from picking the remains for interment.

The family, in addition to their security concern, is also requesting the curfew to be relaxed around the house, purposely to allow them use the cool hours of the night to dig the traditional grave for the burial of their father.

They said the preparation of the grave requires hard work and as such doing it in the heat of the day will be difficult.

The family spokesperson and brother to the deceased, Gideon Nyaaba Abodoon, who made the appeals during a visit by the Member of Parliament (MP) for Navrongo central, Mr. Joseph Kofi Adda, to commiserate with the family, said the family has officially informed authorities and the Police their readiness to bury the deceased and the safety concern, but were not satisfied with the security arrangement proposed by the Police.

According to him, the Police did agree to give them protection by way of patrols which was unlikely with their suggestion to have them stationed at the family house throughout the burial ceremony.

He argued that the patrol would not be effective in dealing with the situation in the likely event of a planned attack, urging authorities to prioritise their security in this difficult time.

"With regards to bringing the body for burial, we have completed every process, a post-mortem has been done, the documents have been signed and we have been given clearance to pick the dead and come and bury. But we need police protection. We have been to the police station with an official application seeking for support to help us bury our father. It was a weekend so we couldn’t meet the commander. So we came to the police sitting at the Kandiga junction to speak to them and do local arrangement.

When we went to them they said there was no problem but gave us one condition which we think will not help us much. They said they will come and patrol the place and leave. So that we continue to work, then when we suspect anything we call them. But the reality on the ground is that the network is not good. Anybody who plans evil before you realize the fellow has finished acting.

If they think that they just coming to patrol and leave, then if we suspect something and we call them, by the time they come it might be too late. So we want to plead with our father (MP) that we are done with everything for the burial so if he can talk to them (Police) to give us maximum protection to bury our father. If you talk to the commander today, we are ready to go and bring our father and bury,” the family spokesperson stated.

“We are going to bury our father traditionally. So we are pleading with authorities to grant us that permission so that the undertakers will come and dig the grave throughout the night. We know there’s curfew but the sun is too hot for digging during the day. It is a lot of work,” He added.

For his part, Mr. Adda, who consoled the family over the loss of their father, assured to support the family in getting the needed assistance to address their requests.

He said he would speak with the security services to relax the curfew to enable them peacefully bury their relative, urging the family to abide by every guideline the security services would lay if an agreement is reached to avoid further disturbances.

Mr. Adda urged the family to give the police the necessary cooperation to enable them unravel the persons behind the murder of their relative to serve justice.

He later donated an undisclosed amount of money towards the burial, packets of nose masks and bottles of alcohol-based hand sanitizers to the family to help them stay safe against the spread of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) as they perform the burial for the deceased.

Earlier, Mr. Adda, in the company of representatives of the Navro-Pio, visited the Palaces of the two feuding areas where he held reconciliatory talks with the chiefs and elders.

In the separate visits, the MP urged the chiefs to embrace each other for peace to reign. He said the development of the two areas would be difficult if the feud continues.

Mr. Adda used the opportunity to clear his name in the issues leading to the disturbances, reiterating his commitment to development for the betterment of the people.