The acting Chief of Amanase in the Ayesuano District of the Eastern Region, Obenfo Addo Agyekum I, has stated that the Overlord of the Akyem Abuakwa Traditional Area, Okyenhene Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin II, had no hand in the sale of the royal cemetery in the community to an investor.
Addressing a press conference on Saturday, the acting Chief disclosed that a document on the sale of the old cemetery had shown the sale was made by the late Chief of the community, Nana Asamoah Dakwaa, under the witness of Osabarima Asamoah Asare Ampofo, Abena Asamabea and one Teacher Offei in 2012.
He further clarified that the only time the Okyenhene appeared in the transaction was a ruling he passed in favour of the developer following initial litigation over the sales and subsequent appearance before the Judicial Committee of the Akyem Abuakwa Traditional Council.
“Based on this evidence available, I want to categorically state that Okyenhene Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin has no hand in the sales of the old Amanase cemetery,” adding that “It was not true with what is circulating in the media that the Okyenhene was behind the sale of Amanase old cemetery land.”
Nana Addo Agyekum I explained that the sale of the old cemetery generated a dispute between the chiefs and the investor recently, of which the case was heard by the Akyem Abuakwa Judicial Committee, which further gave a verdict in favour of the investor, therefore, they needed to exhume the bodies.
He said: “Because of the ruling, we decided to exhume the bodies, especially those who are royals to rebury them. We sent the fresh bodies to the Suhum Government Mortuary, and we did mass burial for others.”
The Chief, who has been in the news for keeping dead bodies and skeletons at the Palace, explained that “there was an issue at Suhum Government Mortuary, so we kept some of the skeletal parts of our demised royal chiefs in the palace, so that we immediately acquire land which will solely be for the burial of the skeletal remains of our royal chiefs and elders.
“After the old cemetery was sold, I offered my 10 acres land to be used as the new cemetery, but under a condition that the old cemetery shouldn’t be sold, or the new cemetery I offered to them when it is full, the land be returned to me, but they also refused to add that clause in the document.
“Due to the delay in acquiring the land; due to the keeping of the skeletal remains in the palace; but now that we have acquired the land we will perform the necessary rite and bury them and have a good rest.”
It would be recalled that the Suhum District Police Command, on Thursday, April 21, 2023, stormed the Amanase Chief’s Palace to retrieve skeletons of exhumed human bodies being kept there.
The bodies were exhumed from the royal cemetery in the community, after it was reportedly sold to an investor to be used for the construction of a fuel filling station.
The bodies exhumed include late chiefs and royals. Two of the exhumed bodies were freshly buried, while one of the fresh corpses had been reburied, and the other had been kept at the Suhum Government Hospital morgue.
However, the Gyaasehene of Amanase, Obenfo Addo Agyekum, who doubles as the acting Chief of the community, decided to keep the exhumed skeletons of their late chiefs in a room at the palace.
This created an uproar recently among some royal family members and the residents of the community.
