The NEWS (Monrovia)
13 March 2008
editorial
Monrovia — Tens of thousands of Liberians on Wednesday converged at respective grave sites throughout the country in observance of Decoration Day.
The second Wednesday in March of each year is set aside as Decoration Day and observed as a national holiday. On this Day, Liberians converge at various cemeteries to pay homage to their deceased friends, relatives and loved ones and to give each grave site a facelift by weeding around and decorating the graves with fresh paint and flowers.
An interpretative intent of the Day is to: sustain national conciseness in preserving cemeteries with outmost reverence or respect.
And for such a purpose, we do laud the government for taking the lead by declaring and sustaining the second Wednesday in March of each year as a national holiday.
However, prior to this year's observance of Decoration Day, there were the usual reports of looted grave sites by individuals believed to be criminals.
And in one of such instances, there was a published photograph of a surviving family member looking in bewilderment into an emptied tomb perhaps wondering how on earth can anyone burst into a tomb to take away the personal effects of the dead, let along, not allowing the soul of the dead to rest in perfect peace.
But again, the looting of grave sites for valuables that are buried along with the dead is nothing new. To address the problem at one of the cemeteries, the government recently fenced the Palm Grove Cemetery in central Monrovia. Notwithstanding, recent reports have indicated that fence alone is not an enough measure to ward-off thieves.
In addition to fencing cemeteries, the cemeteries must also be manned by well-equipped police officers. This, we believe would add to the national conciseness in preserving cemeteries with outmost reverence.
If the government can afford to shut down the nation's economy for a day, we see no reason why it cannot man the few cemeteries with well-equipped police officers.
The looting of grave sites is unacceptable, and therefore everything must be done to ward-off looters.
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