Osu Cemetery with graves and tombstones. In future it will be a pleasant place

No virgin cemeteries, but future bright

Caroline Boateng Opinion Oct - 25 - 2017 , 11:52

Cemeteries in the metropolis, such as the Osu and Awudome cemeteries, were created in the early 1920s when the country was still a colony.

After almost a century, and with the demands from relations of the dead for places of burial, cemeteries in the country have become crowded, disorganised, morbid and full.

It makes the thought of death repulsive to most people, while others are unable to visit their loved ones at the graveside during the commemoration of the passing of the loved one.

Green cemeteries

However, the Chief Sexton of the Metropolitan Public Health Department of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), Mr Jo Annan, says the future of cemeteries in the country is bright.

The AMA is in discussions on the facelift of the cemeteries to transform them into modern places of burial.

Apart from flowers, vegetation, trees that will provide shade and well-manicured lawns, there will be aligned rows of graves with standard tombs.

“Green burial spaces are the way to go in future,” Mr Annan told the Daily Graphic in an interview.

But how can that be achieved with all the crowded graves at Osu, for instance?

Mr Annan said that feat could easily be achieved by the collection of data on all those buried at the cemetery.

Then a mapping of the cemetery will be done with defined sections.

The names of all those buried with the dates will be placed on a big plaque mounted at sections to designate their burial grounds.

With the mapping, graves not attended to by relations for 20 years and more will be reassigned.

Mr Annan, stressed, however that all the plans would be in collaboration with the public and relations who had their departed ones buried there.

Virgin cemeteries

Currently, graves at cemeteries in the metropolis are being re-used.

There is an average of eight burials each Saturday at the Osu cemetery.

Workers at various cemeteries in the metropolis told the Daily Graphic that there was no virgin land, that is a fresh area, for use as a burial ground.

However, Mr Annan said there was no cause for alarm as that had been the practice for tens of years.

“Workers at cemeteries may tell you the place is full. However, the strategy of recycling old graves has been with us for a long, long time.

In the past, we had a standard of digging six feet to bury a corpse; currently, we dig four feet. Virgin lands of all cemeteries have been broken, there are no more virgin cemeteries,” he said.

Mr Annan added that peripheral burial sites at the outskirts of the metropolis were run by various assemblies but were not developed.

Private cemeteries

Private cemeteries are fast carving out for themselves a niche in burial places in the country.

The Gethsemane Memorial Garden at Shiashie is fast becoming a burial place of choice for most rich Ghanaians.

The burial place, first a public burial ground run by the Shiashie Stool, was subsequently given a facelift and is now being managed by Sooner Management Co Ltd.

Managers say burial at the garden is expensive because it is situated on prime real estate, with top-notch maintenance which comes with high costs.

Six thousand gallons of water are drawn daily to keep the lawns green.

Gethsemane offers a green, serene and beautiful environment, but burial there comes with a huge cost.

Relations choose burial plots that are single depth, double depth and family estate, with costs ranging between GH¢27,000 and GH ¢34,000.

But with well-kept lawns, beautiful flowers, uniform graves and tomb stones, families are investing there for their loved ones’ final comfort on earth.

Also to be unveiled soon by the Enterprise Group is a cemetery to be located in the Ga East District of the Greater Accra Region, at Abokobi.

Military Cemetery

For the Osu Military Cemetery constructed in 1958, its 6430 graves are all but used up, with only 27 spaces available currently for generals, Muslims and children.

However, the Military Command initiated the construction of a new cemetery in 2016 behind Burma Camp.

The site is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

Writer’s email: caroline.boateng@graphic.com.gh