A Hoary Tradition of Human Servitude to the gods and mutilation of Corpses Stopped

Whereas the criminal code Act 29 of 1960 as per its 285^th article decries hindering of inquest and article 314 addressing Slave dealing, the constitution also bars anybody from taking the law into his or her hand by the provision of the requisite avenue for legitimate redress through the establishment of absolutely sensitive and dependable state institutions such as , the Judiciary and the Police Service as in Articles 125 and 200, so to safeguard peace and security and to prevent arbitrariness and abuse and for the defense of each citizen and to equally provide Justice and fairness through the modalities outlined in Article 19. It is therefore for this reason that it has become imperative for us and indeed an exigency on our part as the forth realm of the estate to blaze the trail in seeking for justice on behalf of the excluded, voiceless and less fortunate. Above all it is more than imperative and incumbent on public officers to do so judiciously and heartily carry through their constitutional mandates without complaint as they directly draw benefits from their work through the emoluments they receive from the public purse in terms of salaries and wages. The article 1 of our 1992 Forth Republican Constitution in relation to this matter cannot be overemphasized. But to the practitioners of the Nogokpo Zakadza deities who believed in the hoary tradition of human servitude to the gods and mutilation of corpses within the Nogokpo community located in Agbozume in the Ketu South Municipality of the Volta Region, the reverse was the case until the unfolding investigation and interventions of 27^th August to 15^th November, 2017 between Fafaa 100.3 Fm, the relevant state institutions and the practitioners of the deities

On the fateful day of 27^th August, 2017 Crystal Lens Ltd (Fafaa 100.3 Fm) a radio broadcasting entity which resonate on the maxim ‘’ INFORMATION FOR INTERVENTION’’ and located within the Ketu North Municipality of the Volta Region, received a sensitive petition for investigation and intervention from the Safui family of Ave Fiave in the Ketu North District of the Volta Region and duly signed by the divisional chief one Togbi Adela Devoh VIII together with Mr. Kwaku Safui (head of Safui family) and the contents of the petition states as follows:

1. That their son Ebenezer Safui now deceased, was allegedly (through divinations) was purported to be instructed by one Mr. Kwaku Adzam of Ave Hevi eighteen years ago , to pour iron filings into the corn-mill engine of Mr. Sosu Suka, which led to the breakdown of the said corn mill
2. That Kwaku Adzam when contacted during the life time of the deceased denied the allegation and the deceased in his life time confirmed he didn’t instruct him as such
3. That Mr. Sosu Suka after appealing to the public (eighteen years) ago through the necessary announcement of a fetish herald failed to uncover the culprit. He next sought the assistance of the fetish-priest of Zakadza shrine of Nogokpo to unravel the gossamer and shrouded veil of the mysterious criminal.
4. That Mr. Ebenezer Safui before his demise was alleged to have confessed to the crime intimating that Mr. Kwaku Adzam of Ave Hevi provided him with the iron-fillings and instructed him to do so, an issue the said Kwaku Adzam still refuted as untrue
5. That to forestall any alleges preventable recurrence of a debacle of death in the family the family reported to the Nogokpo Shrine to submit themselves to the performance of the necessary pacification rites to the gods to avert any catastrophe, tragedy cataclysm in the family.
6. The shrine priest after admitting to the fact that their Nogokpo god was responsible for the death of Mr. Ebenezer Safui demanded his body be withdrawn from the morgue and brought to them at the shrine for the necessary rites to be performed on the body after which it would be returned to them for burial ceremony to be performed.
7. To carry through with the rites a number of items were demanded including the provision of money and a human being to serve the Nogokpo gods.
8. The corpse was detained by the practitioners of the deity in their evil forest past 14 days with demand that human being have to be offered to replace the corpse

According to the Safui family, they have pleaded with the shrine elders for the replacement of the human being with any other object but they refused insisting that it will be a human being or the visiting of havoc on the family. At this juncture the family had no choice but to petitioned the ‘’Duamenefa’’ Human Rights Intervention program of Fafaa Fm for intervention.

Same petition copied to (1) The Municipal Security Council Ketu South, (2) The Police Commander, Agbozume, (3) The Nogokpo Zakadza Fetish Practitioners through the Assemblyman (who is a front line manager of the cult) (4) The CHRAJ Denu

Fafaa 100.3 Fm rolled out an undercover investigation to establish the veracity of the allegations and chronicled as its findings as follows:

CHRONOLOGY OF FINDINGS ON RECORD.

1. 13^th August 2017, Ebenezer Safui who was admitted on the 10^th day of August,2017 and diagnosed of jaundice died at the ARS Clinic Tadzewu in the Ketu North District of the Volta Region, his corpse moved to the St. Anthony’s Hospital Dzodze within the same district same day (on record)
2. 16^th August,2017, the corpse was removed from the St. Anthony’s Hospital Dzodze on demand by the Nogokpo Zakadza cult (on record)
3. 21^st August,2017 – Safui family petitioned Fafaa Fm and copied to the relevant state institutions as mentioned above ( on record)
4. 24^th August 2017, Nogokpo Assemblyman confirmed to Fafaa Fm that the petition was received and all parties in the shrine duly served and aware accordingly(on record)
5. 24^th August 2017,- The police commander , The Municipal Security Council (Munsec), the Commission for Human Right and Administrative Justice (Chraj) were all interviewed off air on the exigency of the petition(on record)

On the 27^th August 2017 the matter was 1^st published on Fafaa airwaves after with deep down interrogation of the following authorities, the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), the Commission for Human Right and Administrative Justice(CHRAJ), the Municipal Chief Executive Officer (MCE), and the DISTRICT POLICE COMMANDER (on record)

The outcome of the publication by Fafaa 100.3 Fm warrant the Municipal Security Councils emergency meeting of 28^th August 2017 where the deceased families together with the practitioners of the Zakadza deity were hauled before the MUNSEC and Ghc 500.00 was accepted through dialogue as replacement for the demand of human being as pacification to the gods. The Municipal Security Council pleaded with the practitioners of the deity to release the corpse for decent burial forthwith, but in a twist of events the Zakadza deity practitioners having accepted the Ghc 500.00 in replacement of the human being thereafter refused to release the corpse to the Safui families instead an MOU dated 29^th August, 2017 was signed with the deceased family for the corpse to be decapitated for ritual purposes

Fafaa 100.3 fm hijacked the MOU and published same and called on the NCCE, THE POLICE and the MCE to act in other to save the decomposing corpse, but unfortunately the relevant authorities failed to act this time but allow the Nogokpo Zakadza deity practitioners to shred corpse for ritual purposes, this happened on the 2^nd day of September, 2017, in the presence of the Agbozume Police commander in person of DSP Tettey, who told Fafaa Fm through the program host (on record)that he witnessed the ceremony and over 30 skulls were dragged to the arena of the ceremony for their anthropological event, seventeen days of detention of the corpse

This ineptitude on the part of the police compelled former directors of NCCE in persons of Mr. Jordan Dzikunu (KETA District) and Mr. Francis Gota (Ketu District) – both declared hunger strike on air for the ineptitude of the Agbozume Police Command and says they rendered the constitution dormant and the police have no moral right to arrest other criminals forthwith

Their hunger strike bothered on the following imperative questions which was put in the public domain within the program segment on the 3^rd day of September, 2017

1. That after the MUNSEC meeting the public expectation was the police would have instructed the practioners of the deity to release the corpse to the family for burial but instead the corpse was allowed to be kept in the forest for 17 days
2. That the practitioners of the deity went ahead and signed an MOU with the deceased family for the corpse to be used for rituals, whereas the copy of the MOU was made available through Fafaa Fm to the police
3. That the attention of the Agbozume Police had been drawn by Fafaa fm to the continuous detention of the corpse but the police failed to act
4. That Fafaa Fm’s further investigations from the ARS Clinic revealed that the deceased death in the clinic was as result of typhoid fever as against the claim that he was killed by the gods ( documents from the ARS Clinic made available to the police)
5. That the police commander of Agbozume in person of DSP Tettey was duly informed by the CEO of Fafaa Fm to stop the practice as it is against all human right and constitutional abuse as corroborated by the NCCE and the CHRAJ officials
6. That the police commander told Fafaa fm he was in the forest to witness the ceremonies
7. That the police commander of Agbozume witnessed the ceremony where the body parts of the deceased have been shredded in to pieces and other human skulls were added to that of Ebenezer Safui numbering over 30 human skulls, brought to the arena of the ceremony in the glare of the Ghana Police Commander of Agbozume( interviewed on record)
8. That according to the commander the practitioners of the deity were even cursing the CEO of Fafaa fm during the ceremonies, believing that he is the one who is trying to stop their age long tradition (interviewed on record)
9. That the assemblyman of Nogokpo in person of Hon. C.K Amuzu ( a member of the cult) when interviewed by Fafaa fm agreed that it has been an age long practice and therefore there is nothing he could do to stop it, that if the police or the municipal security council failed to act what can he do
10. Further interview of inmates of the cult and some citizens of the town suggested that the whole community is subjected to callous treatment through such acts( voices played on air)
11. Further interview of inmates of the cult and some citizens of the town suggested that the whole community is subjected to callous treatment through such acts( voices played on air)

FAFAA 100.3 FM THROUGH THE PROGRAM HOST PETITIONED THE DIVISIONAL COMMANDER OF KETA (ACP. ALEX AMENYO) AND COPIED THE AWORMEFIA OF ANLO (TOGBI SRI III THE PRESIDENT OF ANLO TRADITIONAL COUNCIL ) to respond to the following :

1. The legal justification for anyone to order for the removal of a corpse from the morgue to his shrine for a ritual exercise.
2. The refusal of fetish shrine to release the said corpse to the bereaved family for interment after an initial intervention by the municipal security council
3. Keeping the said deceased body exposed to the vagaries of the weather for 17 days on end and in the open courtyard of the Nogokpo Forest without burial.
4. Dismembering the said corps by decapitating it, axing it, sawing it, severing it and removing some vital organs and then subjecting the left-over of the amorphously dismembered and abused corpse to cruel and inhuman torture by dragging it on the craggy, rough, jagged, rugged floor making the body parts peel-off in the process making foolish, and useless the handy work of the Supreme Creator God and by so doing challenging the legality of any existing law barring the practice and further by extension of its spiritual taunt and disregard for the Constitution demanding for the submission of human being for the service and pacification of the gods which said human being is expected to slave serve at the shrine till eternity and get replaced at his or her death by another human being would be replicated without break and excuse till thy kingdom come.
5. To question the rational, sanity, wisdom or logic behind accepting Ghc 500.00 cedis on the family in lieu of the demand for human being which in itself is a blatant affront to Article 16 of the Constitution and the revised version of Article 314 of the Criminal Code. The illegal demand for a number of items to be used in the pacification rites to their god which they admitted had illegally terminated or ended the life of the late Ebenezer Safui, another open and uncontested admission of guilt.

With the aforementioned submission Fafaa 100.3 fm through the program host humbly wish to call on the police hierarchy and the traditional ruler to as a matter of urgency beckon the Agbozume Commander to restore the confidence of the general public in the police by answering the above relevant questions and also for the Awormefia of Anlo to as a matter of urgency define the constitutional backing of such barbaric practices by the Nogokpo Zakadza deity practitioners

RESULTS

Although the divisional commander could not come on air to address the issue publicly,  a directive was issued from the office of the Awormefia (President of the Anlo Traditional Council) to the Nogokpo Zakadza deity practitioners to put an immediate stop to the hoary practice

The citizens within the Volta region can now breathe a sigh of relief through the intervention, investigation and broadcast of the story on the Safui family and the Nogokpo Zakadza brouhaha which has now resulted in stoppage of such practices, which according to the inmates of the cult as well as the citizens within the Agbozume and its environs have posed a great danger of environmental hazards as well as brunt violations of their fundamental human right and direct affront to the provisions of the constitutions of the republic of Ghana

Emmanuel Ketaman Evortepe

Is the Chief Executive Officer

Fafaa 100.3 Fm Dzodze.

The Originator of the Synopsis

And Host of the Human Right Social Program

Dubbed

‘’ DUAMENEFA’’, (LET’S COEXIST IN PEACE) which airs every Sunday on the airwaves of Fafaa 100.3 fm Dzodze, also on www.fafaafm.com between the hours of 7 – 9:30pm

Email – ketaman@fafaafm / Ketaman.emmanuel@gmail.com