Poor lighting systems and lax security at the Tafo cemetery are paving the way for some unscrupulous individuals to invade the enclave to perpetrate nefarious activities.
Some worried residents say only enhanced lighting can discourage grave looters and other ritualists from threatening the sanctity of graves in the area.
Digging graves has become a daily venture for Mohammed Rabiu and his colleagues at the Tafo cemetery.
The Tafo cemetery, located on a vast land, is the biggest and has two sections comprising a burial area for Muslims and Christians.
Mohammed Rabiu and his colleagues have the additional responsibility of taking care of the cemetery besides the grave digging.
According to him, their vigilance discourages grave looters from carrying out such activities during the day. He said such unknown persons instead come around at night to perform rituals and also pick some human parts.
Others also openly defecate at sections of the cemetery.
Mr. Rabiu told Citi News in an interview on Monday that “The individuals perpetrating illegal activities here are those who come to perform rituals at the cemetery. We have not caught anyone picking body parts from the graves. Some visit their fetish priest or other soothsayers and are instructed to bury items at the cemetery; we have caught several of them. Some bring in fowls and slaughter them on the graves, which is not helpful.”
“Even if they had prepared those things at home for their children, it would have been better. We cover up such things when we find them at the graves. Some kill and take body parts, while others are instructed to come and collect parts here because the evildoers are everywhere, and they carry out these crimes on our blind side.”
But he denies the involvement of him and his colleagues in such acts and says they call on the police whenever such complaints come in.
“It is not possible to come to us and request a body part at this cemetery. Even if people come, the boys will inform the elders here, and we will hand over such individuals to the police. When they are taken to the police station, they will be questioned if this is an abattoir where meat is sold. We bury people here, and we do not entertain requests for body parts,” he said.
He explains some individuals take advantage of open graves to loot them, although they make efforts to always cover up these graves and rebury exposed human parts.
For him, enhancing the lighting situation will scare bad people from carrying out their evil acts at the cemetery.
“The initiative to enhance the lighting situation at the cemetery will help address these concerns and ward off people with evil intentions. The public should come and help so that their relatives who are brought here for burial will also have a safe resting place. The wrongdoers are everywhere, and they search for body parts to use for money rituals. These individuals must understand that what they do to others will be done to them too, one day,” he stated.
Some workers close to the cemetery and other residents call for enhanced security at the cemetery.
James Appiah, a resident, said, “When there is enhanced lighting, it will help to brighten up the places. Our Muslim brothers in collaboration with the traditional authorities have constantly cleared the bushy area and that results in the reduction of some negative activities at the cemetery.”
Another resident, Isaaka Bala, noted that “Sometimes we hear that robbers use this place as a hideout for their arms and weapons. Some also come around to loot the graves and if there is light all over, it will be difficult for such people to come to the cemetery to carry out their nefarious activities.”
The cemetery land falls within the Tafo-Ahenebronom Electoral area, and the Assembly Member for the area spoke about the intervention the Old Tafo Municipal Assembly was making to address these concerns.
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