The Mortuaries and Funeral Facilities Agency (MOFFA) is preparing to deploy personnel across various districts in Ghana to monitor funeral activities and help prevent the mistreatment of corpses. The agency plans to equip these personnel with mobile phones and motorbikes to ensure they can quickly reach funeral grounds, document suspected abuse, and report any practices that violate the dignity of the deceased.
MOFFA Executive Director Francis Ennin informed JoyNews’ Stephen Mensah that this district-level deployment is part of efforts to enhance oversight of Ghana’s funeral industry. “We will provide them with mobile phones and motorbikes so that they can attend any funeral activity swiftly,” Mr. Ennin said.
The personnel will have the ability to take photographs and videos of activities at funeral grounds, sometimes without those present being aware of MOFFA officers’ presence. “They will be able to document any misconduct discreetly so that individuals engaging in improper behavior may not realize MOFFA personnel are there,” he explained.
Additionally, Mr. Ennin mentioned that the agency has already begun setting up regional offices, with the next phase involving the recruitment and deployment of personnel to the districts. He believes the physical presence of officers at funeral grounds will also discourage people from engaging in practices that compromise the dignity of corpses.
“If you go to some parts of this country, if you go to the northern part of this country, people will not behave in such a manner,” he said. He said MOFFA was particularly concerned about parts of central and southern Ghana, where it believes inappropriate practices involving corpses are more common.
“We are concerned about the southern part or the middle up to the southern part of Ghana, where these things are common. And then we want to tackle those from those areas. It will even put some fear in them so that we can keep distance,” he added. Beyond monitoring funeral activities, MOFFA is also working on proposals to strengthen the laws governing the handling of corpses.
Mr Ennin said the agency wants amendments to existing legislation to introduce punitive measures against people who mishandle corpses or engage in practices considered disrespectful to the dead. “The legislation, we need to amend some portions of it so that we can fix in some punitive measures on people who handle corpses and do all sorts of things,” he said.
Rather than immediately pursuing a costly formal amendment of the legislation, the agency is preparing a draft document outlining the proposed changes. The draft is currently being considered by a committee and will have to go through the MOFFA board and the Ministry of Health before it can be adopted as a national working document.
The planned district deployment and proposed legal changes form part of MOFFA’s wider efforts to ensure that corpses are treated with dignity and that funeral facilities and activities comply with the law.
Source: Edward Acquah
