MONROVIA – Mrs. Doris Wilson was deep in grief but she suspected that something sinister was going on from the moment she was stopped by an attendant of the cemetery from going to see the grave before the hearse carrying the remains of her late husband could arrive.
By Lennart Dodoo, [email protected]
“Madam, our policy here is that no one can go near the grave until the body arrives, so, please wait, when we put the casket over the hole, then everybody can go there,” she was told by a middle-aged looking woman who appeared to be the supervisor.
Kaiser Memorial located in Brewerville had charged the Wilsons a whopping US$9,500 for a concrete vault and everlasting maintenance as their regular package.
They were also charged an additional US$3,100 for the headstone.
She said after negotiations with the proprietor, William Cisco, give them a discounted price of $8,500. Mrs. Wilson added that her son did the first wire transfer of $8,500 on Jan 26. She further alleged that the family learned from a relative that the headstone which Cisco produced claimed was being done in the United States was manufactured on A.B. Tolbert Road. According to her, with the new information she got she decided to renegotiate the price of the cornerstone with the proprietor but he remained adamant.
“He didn’t know we had all that information. We pleaded with him that some of our relatives were coming from America and they say their contribution would be to bring the headstone, but he said ‘No’,” she said. They received a text message from the proprietor who is based in the United States that his cemetery has rules and regulations if they were not willing to live up to the rules and regulations, they could find elsewhere to bury their love one. So, we never push it further but send the balance $3,100 on Feb 1. Despite he not being available to confirm receipt of first transfer.
FrontPageAfrica has not been able to independently verify this information.
While awaiting confirmation from the proprietor, the family received a call on Saturday February 4 from the supervisor Madam Sandra that we were to process death certificate from the Vital Statistics Unit, Ministry of Health prior to burial, the family tried and was able to get it on Tuesday Feb 7. She further alleged that after paying a total of US$11,600 upon delivering the document the family was slapped with an additional charge from the proprietor informing them that they had defaulted on the 10 days ultimatum to select a spot for the burial, therefore, as per the policy, they were to pay US$500 as late fee.
Again, she claimed that all negotiations to have him waive the late fee proved futile. “He said without the US$500 we couldn’t bury over there “he clearly stated that the board had decided on the fine” So the children were constrained to pay the US$500 to Mrs. Omoko,” she added.
Mrs. Wilson explained that after the burial, being heavy hearted, she decided to leave one of her sons behind to ensure that the grave was properly sealed.
“They told us no one supposed to be there, I told them no, we can’t just come and dash our loved one like that and turn our backs,” she said.
According to her, her son was there up to 7pm before the cemetery attendants decided to mix half bag of cement with swamp sand and with no crushed rocks.
“They just put in three finger size steel rods, one on the left, one in the middle and the other side, they took two sheets of banana sheet zinc 32”guaze, put it on top of the coffin, then they put the mortar without crushed rocks on the sheets of zinc which began to tear and the mortar began to fall on the casket,” the grave attendants were cautioned by my son that they were not doing the right form of burial but they refused to accept and went further to pour red dirt on the grave she explained.
According to her being displeased and suspicious of the manner in which the burial was done, she requested after two days that the casket be exhumed, but the management requested her to obtain a permit from the National Public Health Institute of Liberia.
“They thought it was going to give us hard time to get the letter, but as God could have it, we processed it in no time and got the letter from NPHIL.
“When the letter came, they knew that we had started the process but they were still hesitant to open the grave, the next day I went prepared with steel rod, sands, crushed rocks, so that in any eventuality, we will do the right thing,” she said.
Mrs. Wilson told FrontPageAfrica that later Ms. Sandra admitted she didn’t know that there was no crush rocks and sand on ground to cast vault and that her boss William Cisco had instructed them to get money from Mrs. Omoko to purchase a truck load each of both sand and crushed rocks. Now the Sandra lady who was so hostile from the onset of the arrangement became very calm and finally resolved to open the grave, the cemetery management asked that only a family member be present.
“I told them no, nobody will leave this yard because even the government is aware that we came to rebury, so, nobody will leave,” she said.
“After we dug the grave and it was confirmed that indeed that they didn’t do any vault, the manager began to beg,” she said.
Mrs. Wilson wondered the intent of the cemetery.
Mrs. Wilson: “After taking US$12,100 from us, they decided to dump my husband and steal the box. I don’t need anything from Kaiser, but to let him know he needs to step up. He’s not providing the services as they are paid for. I just want them to set the record straight because when people do all these things for their dead, let them rest in peace, let the dead rest in peace. Because you’re dead so you don’t have any respect? No.”
The management of the Kaiser Memorial did not respond to FrontPageAfrica’s inquiry on the allegation up to press time.
Cllr. Wilson died at 71. He was former State Prosecutor, Ministry Of Justice, Republic Of Liberia; Former Senior Auditor, Junior Auditor, Senior Income Tax Officer, Regional Income Tax Officer, Chief Auditor, respectively, Erstwhile Ministry Of Finance, Now Ministry Of Finance And Development Planning, Republic of Liberia; Counselor-At-Law; Law Enforcement Practitioner; Financial Expert; Septuagenarian; Disciplinarian; Long Serving And Dedicated Public Servant; Patriot; and a