Family of  renowned obstetrician-gynecologist  Dr. Issah Egala,who died recently, have kicked against the  the appointment of the practitioner’s wife Fanny Marcel as Ghana’s Ambassador to Turkey, describing her as unfit to represent mother Ghana.

The Eagala has made a passionate appeal to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to withdraw Madam Marcel's appointment, accusing her of neglecting her husband at the time when he was seriously sick.

The Egala Family is currently in a tug-of-war with Madam Marcel, who was recently appointed to head  the Ghana Mission in Turkey, over the exhumation of the body of her husband Dr. Egala, 82, a former Commissioner of Police and also Director of Medical Services of the Ghana Police Service.

It was a solemn scene at the Ghana International Press Centre yesterday when the family of the late Doctor recounted the circumstances under which he died and how they claimed he had been neglected by Madam Marcel.

Alhaji Iddi Egala, a Chartered Accountant who is the deceased’s younger brother alleged that the treatment allegedly meted out to his brother by the wife did not make her the right person to serve as Ghana’s envoy and on behalf of the family appealed to the President to reconsider the appointment.

He said it was the wish of Dr. Egala that whenever he died he should not be kept for long and therefore, when he gave up the ghost on May 17, 2017, the family met and decided that he should be buried at the Madina Public Cemetery in Accra the next day which was done.

According to Alhaji Iddi Egala, the wife was in the United States when the death occurred but had ordered that no family member of the husband should step into the Airport Residential Area residence where the couple lived.

He said they got the officials of Legon Anglican Church in Accra to conduct a burial service for their departed brother saying “at the Police Hospital Morgue, the body was conveyed with full police honours befitting a retired Commissioner of Police and the police hierarchy was fully represented.”

“Upon Fanny’s arrival to Ghana, her first point of call was the Airport Police Station to report that her husband was dead and buried in her absence,” adding “according to the police, she complained that she suspected foul play in the death.”

He said the police then called Dramani Egala, one of the deceased’s brothers to ask for the medical report and Dramani Egala told the police to go to the Police Hospital and ask for whatever report they needed as all the records were there.

According to Alhaji Iddi Egala, the police also contacted Amadu Kaleem aka ‘Business’ who was a close friend of their late brother over Madam Fanny’s complaint and he reportedly told them to direct their investigations into the residence since the house was fitted with CCTV cameras and it won’t be difficult to determine who moved the doctor to the Police Hospital.

He said on June 13, 2017 the deceased family saw a publication in the Daily Graphic with the headline ‘Burial Service and Interment of the late Dr. Issah Egala’ and became ‘astonished’ because he had been buried and therefore had to issue a rejoinder to disclaim the publication.

Exhumation Exercise

He said a day after the publication, they got information that the tomb of the doctor was being opened and when they rushed to the Madina Cemetery they saw heavily armed policemen exhuming the body.

Alhaji Iddi Egala said when the family enquired from the Police they said they were enforcing a court order but the leader of the team one ASP Kwarteng could not give them the name or contact of the person(s) who sought the court order.

He said later the police tried to create the impression that it was him (Alhaji Iddi Egala) who had asked the police to exhume his brother but said “it was a big lie.”

Sinister Works

He said the family had to place a court injunction on the body which was taken to Korle Bu Teaching Hospital Morgue for autopsy, saying “Fanny’s plan to rebury the deceased at Shiahie Gethsomenie Funeral Home was aborted.”

“The Korle Bu Hospital morgue was later instructed not to release the remains to Fanny but to the family rather after the autopsy. Eventually our objective was achieved with the family collecting the remains of Dr. Egala and a subsequent re-burial at the Madina Public Cemetery on July 1, 2017.”

By Fiif Abdul Malik/ghanaguardian.com