THE Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) is making frantic efforts to find a new site to replace the Awudome and the Osu cemeteries. The Osu and Awudome cemeteries constructed around the 1800s have been overstretched and exhausted far beyond their limits, leaving sextons with no alternative than to adopt what they term a 'storey building burial', where two dead bodies are buried in one six-feet grave. City authorities are now saddled with the responsibility of locating another huge acre of land to replace the over a century old cemeteries. Sextons at the two cemeteries are currently managing a very critical situation, sometimes to the detriment of their health as they reopen pits in which people have already been buried. Even the storey building strategy, according to the Chief Sexton at the Metro Department of the AMA, Alhaji Annan, which the assembly employed to save the situation had not helped as the already used graves were also getting exhausted. So dire is the situation that, the AMA has requested the Lands Commission to help find an alternative burial site in the Ga district to replace the two cemeteries. A visit by the Daily Graphic to the Awudome Cemetery revealed a very critical situation where some graves have been reopened by sextons to be used for another burial. While the main walkway which led mourners into the cemetery had been narrowed to create more space for burial, the inner walkways where bereaved families could use on a visit to the grave sites of loved ones have all been used. Mr James Aryeetey, the Chief Environmental Health Officer at the Metro Health Department of the AMA, said the AMA had appealed to the Lands Commission for another place to be used as a cemetery since 2005, but they were yet to receive a feedback. The Mile Eleven Cemetery at Akwasa in the Ga West District, which was given to the AMA to be used has also been grossly encroached upon leaving just a small parcel of land for the assembly to manage. The La Community Cemetery which served residents in La and its environs according to" Mr Aryeetey was also full. Mr Aryeetey who was speaking in an interview with the Daily Graphic stated that the department was at the moment managing a very grave situation and there was, therefore, an urgent need to look for a new site to forestall the situation. He explained that although cremation would have been a good option due to the non-availability of land, people were not too interested in that form of burial due to our cultural beliefs. The Osu-Klottey sub -metro which has jurisdiction over the Osu Cemetery confirmed that the cemetery was full. The Director, Mr. Seth Okpe, who spoke in an interview was, however quick to add that the cemetery was not under the control of the sub-metro. Ironically, while the assembly is still trying to find a replacement for the two cemeteries, a lot of burial take place every month. Source: Daily Graphic