Tension is mounting in the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba District following a standoff between the family of the late NDC MP for the area, Joseph Trumah Bayel, and traditional authorities over the continued detention of his body at the Sawla Hospital mortuary.

The chiefs are demanding GH¢944,955 as compensation, said to cover legal costs from a long-running land dispute involving the late MP and the former and current chiefs of Tuna.

His son, Richard Trumah Bayel, told JoyNews in a telephone interview that the whole situation is disgraceful and embarrassing.

"Why is the whole thing like this? It is disgraceful and very embarrassing that somebody who served his country and has been called to his maker, and we are having difficulties in performing his funeral because he stood for the right course.

"He was not violent. He went to court over something he thought was wrong. Why should that be an issue, or are we now living in a banana republic where the rich and strong now allow the weak and poor to suffer?" he complained.

Mr. Richard Bayel also confirmed that the chief of Tuna told the family that, "The issue he had with our late father, he has spent more than one million cedis, which we have to pay before they will consider allowing us to have the funeral of our late father. But the question is, what will be the reason for paying that money?

"What did our late father do wrong by going to court? Don't sons and daughters of the region go to court, or is he the first to send a chief to court?"

Mr. Bayel explained that the medical director of the hospital, one Doctor Roger, told him that, "he has received a call from the chief of Sawla ordering him not to release our late father's body to us. And he said the mortuary attendant was as well instructed not to release the body to us, and that's where we are currently," he stated.

The Secretary of the Bole Chief, Haruna Obey, confirmed to JoyNews that the family would have to withdraw the court case and pay the full amount demanded or be forced to bury the deceased outside the region.

"They can't bury him [late MP] without withdrawing the case from court. Or they can bury but not in our land. They can find a place in Tamale, Wa, or Wechau; their families are there. They can go and do the burial there," the secretary indicated.

He noted that it is only the burial that they are against because he [late MP] had been in contention with the former and current chiefs of Tuna. "So, currently, the people there are agitating that he cannot be buried in our land."

Meanwhile, JoyNews sources at the Bolewura's palace have revealed the outcome of an emergency meeting held between the chiefs and the deceased's family at the palace of the Bole chief.

First among the conditions is that the family should denounce ownership of the said land in court, pay one hundred thousand cedis, and also withdraw the case from court.

When all these are met, the chiefs will then decide when and where the late Member of Parliament, Joseph Trumah Bayel, will be laid to rest. The chief did not end there but instructed personnel from the Ghana Police Service not to allow the late MP's body to be taken away from the Sawla Hospital mortuary.

JoyNews will keep our viewers informed as the matter develops.