EGALA FAMILY WANTS ENVOY WITHDRAWN

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Friday, July 07, 2017

Family of renowned obstetrician gynecologist Dr. Issah Egala who died recently has made a passionate appeal to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to withdraw the appointment of the practitioner’s wife Fanny Marcel as Ghana’s Ambassador to Turkey.

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 junior brother to Dr. Egala said 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 Legon Anglican Church in Accra officials 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 was not difficult to determine who moved 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

“These were the sinister works and machinations of Funny Marcel to by all means, get the late Dr. Issah Egala reburied by her,” adding “indeed the remains of Dr. Egala was exhumed by the police on that faithful day under the instructions of Funny after exactly four weeks of burial. This is an abomination to the Egala family, the Sissala tradition and northerners as a whole. This is unpardonable!”

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 “Funny’s plan to rebury the deceased at Shiahie Gethsomenie Funeral Home was aborted.”

“The deceased never expected this from Funny who neglected him. She actually left him sick and went to the USA. It is also important to note that Dr. Issah Egala at the age of almost 82 was still going to buy ingredients for cooking at the Agbogbloshie and Malam Atta markets in the company of Amadu Kaleem who can attest aptly to this fact.”

“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.”

He said it was the Ambassador who converted their relation from Islam to Christianity and both worshiped regularly at Ridge Church, Accra claiming “for sometime until his death, it was a known fact in the church that Issah and Fanny did not get on and had strained relationship and Fanny would often drive off from church leaving Issah to take a taxi or hike a lift home.”

“Issah had no car of his own and had no access to the cars in the house. The Mercedes car he was using had been sold by Fanny,” the family alleged, adding “it was Maggie Prah, a former friend of Fanny who gave Issah car ride to Ridge Church.”

“Issah was so badly treated by his wife and it was common knowledge to all who knew them. Issah was miserable, frustrated and dejected by his wife, who had told some friends that they were divorced,” he alleged.

 “Fanny drained Issah of all his wealth and reduced him to a poor frustrated man,” adding “She finally travelled and left him alone in a bad state both physically and mentally, which finally culminated in his death.”

A lot of friends and sympathizers of the Egala family were at the news conference and one of them, Lepowura Alhaji M.N.D. Jawula even went to the extent of describing her as a ‘witch’ for exhuming the body of the late Dr. Egala, insisting that it was an abomination as far as the customs and traditions of the people of Sissala was concerned.