‘Disregard Togbe Fitih’s letter’
The Chairman of the Finance sub-committee of the Burial Committee set up to oversee the burial of the late Paramount Chief of the Peki Traditional Area, Mr Justice Isaac Duose, has said the letter from Togbe C. C. Fitih seeking to bring a halt to burial proceedings must be disregarded.
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Justice Duose was reacting to a letter Togbe C. C. Fitih wrote to the Office of the President and ministries, as well as institutions, notifying them that the burial of the late chief cannot take place because the rightful procedures in matters of such nature had not been followed.
Togbe Fitih is therefore appealing to the authorities to stop unauthorised persons from removing the corpse of the late Togbega from the Peki Government Hospital.
According to the letter from Togbe Fitih’s lawyer, Mr B.B Bakattah, the late chief installed Togbe Fitih as regent of Peki and made it abundantly clear to his immediate family and the royal family that Togbe Fitih should be in charge of all his affairs.
Shirking of responsibility
But Justice Duose said, as the regent and someone who was asked by the late chief to carry out his burial, he had failed to do that for the past six years.
“Considering his role as a regent, he could only act as such when the chief was alive. Once the chief is dead his regency also comes to an end.”
“Togbe Fitih is not a chief. He only comes from one of the three royal houses in Peki Blengo and he is not even from the royal house to which the late chief belongs. So he is not even entitled to assume the role that he has taken upon himself,” he said.
According to Justice Duose, when a chief dies, it is a chief who buries him. He said if Togbe Fitih believed that he has a case he should proceed to court and not bring confusion when it is only two weeks to the time to give the late Togbega Kwadwo Dei XI a befitting burial.
Move forward
He said when one was made a chief, he became property of the traditional areas to which he belonged and not that of any individual, and so in death not even the chief’s family could claim the body as theirs. He said the funeral and burial of a deceased chief therefore became the responsibility of the traditional council.
“At the moment, the burial committee has printed the funeral cloth, funeral brochure, obituary posters, arranged for drinks and sent out invitations. How do we bring the process to a halt at this late stage,” he asked.