You Be The Judge!

Reluctantly, I’m going to keep this narrative clean and free of invectives, even though I'm convinced that on this occasion some of the actors deserve no courtesy whatsoever.

Here we go. My elder sister came to Ghana from London on holidays in December, 2017. Towards the end of March, 2018, the unexpected happened. She passed on. Incidentally, I had been chatting with her via WhatsApp, hours before her call to eternity, and we had planned to meet after the Easter break to celebrate some good news that I had shared with her.

But our planned meeting was not to be.
As she was being rushed to the Police hospital around midnight on Wednesday, March 28, her minders desperately tried to reach me. But guess what? I was unreachable, because I was on admission at a hospital in Accra, and therefore in no position to assist.

With me out of coverage area, a number of questionable things happened. These acts were perpetrated by some identifiable people. First, one of the culprits rushed to the hospital and clandestinely changed the name on the original card issued after a corpse is received and instead placed his name on the card. This very suspicious action was clearly driven by dishonourable intentions.

Unfortunately it gets worse, as the team leader himself surfaced next, and easily managed to get a new card issued in his name. Ridiculous! This was after he introduced himself to the hospital staff as family head and demanding that his name be placed on the record, presuming control of the corpse and matters pertaining to that.

Well, family head over whom? Certainly not me, and NOT my sister or any of my siblings!

What was the reason for these swift and suspicious actions? The motive becomes obvious after attempts were made to “illegally” possess her property in a suburb of Accra. Attempting to change locks on a property legally titled to another individual is criminal! This criminal and indecent act was called out by the appointed executors in the UK as they were in the process of reviewing pertinent documents in line with my sister's final wishes.

In the meantime, the so-called family-head/team leader had gained possession of the deceased’s death certificate which was needed by the executors to access key documents and information about the deceased in the UK. Well, the so called family head who “apparently” cared so much about the deceased started playing games with the executors, refusing to hand over the death certificate. Thankfully, the executors managed to secure a true certified copy of from another source. Angered by this, the so-called family head/team leader is threatening court action against the institution that released the document.

Now, my question to you, is, why would anyone hold onto someone's death certificate while the executors were waiting for it to access and probate her Will?. I shudder to imagine what would have happened if she had died intestate. The consolation is that she left a Will in the UK, together with clear instructions for pre-burial and burial wishes, none of which included the so-called family head or any of the stooges he has managed to convince to partake in this shameful, aggressive, and indecent act of staking claim to what they were not entitled to in any way.

I hear that the team leader is planning to challenge the UK Will, arguing that the deceased died in Ghana, so traditional law overrides her instructions. In my book, this position is insane and unjustified. Where is the dignity in death? What really is his motive?

But, You be the judge!.
Would you discharge, fine or jail those involved in these acts? Me, I would jail them and throw the keys into the middle of the Korle Lagoon. Good riddance.

The world is better off without such scammers. Naming and shaming may follow, depending on their next moves.