The final funeral rites of the late Ga Manye, Naa Dedei Omaedru III, seem to be in jeopardy, as seven people close to the family have secured an interim injunction on the ceremony.
Per information, the burial for the late Ga Manye, who died in December 2022, is expected to take place on Saturday, October 28, 2023, but with the injunction, the funeral might be called off.
According to the court order, “the Funeral Committee chaired by Nii Otintor II, all members of the committee, their privies, workmen, assigns, and all persons working through them are restrained from handling, organising, touching, performing, or dealing with the remains of the Late Queen Mother, Naa Dedei Omaedru III, in any manner for a period of ten (10) days”.
The plaintiffs in the case are: Nuumo Emmanuel T. Antia We, Head of the Antie We of Kpone, Nii Addey Oba-Aasaa II, Ankobea of Antie We of Kpone, Shippi Antie I, Saduase Shippi Kpone, Charles Nii Kotey Kotey, Head of Naa Dedei Omaedru We Family of Faase, Accra, Asafoatse Nii Kotey Ga II, Oseahene of Ga Manye Stool and Principal Elder of the Naa Dedei Omaedru We of Faase Accra, Michael Nii Ofei Danso of unnumbered House Accra, Principal Elder of Naa Dedei Omaedru We of Faase Accra and Naa Yomofio, Linguist of Ga Manye Naa Dedei Omaedru We.
But in an interview, a member of the planning committee and the Ga Adangbe Council President, Nii Ayikoi Otoo insists the funeral will take place as scheduled.
According to him, the organisers could not be sued because they were assigned to organise the funeral, insisting that the funeral would take place at the Ga Mantse Palace.
“We don’t know anything about the injunction. These days, lots of things happen on social media. There may be things going around on social media, but I don’t think that as of now anybody has been served. I’m a member of the funeral committee, I have not been served with anything. We haven’t seen anything, so we don’t even know the extent of that order. What is it about? Is the Ga Traditional Council named as a party to the defendants?”
If I give you work to do as a subcommittee or appoint you as an agent, and you have a problem, who do you sue? Is it me or the agent? Why is the Council out? The remains of the late queen mother is that a funeral? The injunction is clear that it’s about the body, you wait and see what happens. When they serve us, we will deal with it,” he said.
“Saturday is the funeral day. We will have the burial service from 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM. Afterwards, we will hand over the coffin to the Asafoatsemei to parade through the principal streets. And in the evening, we will have a private burial. These days, even those who are not royals are given private burials. How much more the late queen who was a royal?”
“It will be a grand funeral. We have invited all the important chiefs of Ghana: the Asantene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the Akyem, Kwahu, Yendi Yaa Naa, and Bolga Naa Ba. I mean every important paramount chief that you can think of. And they have all pledged that they will be here in person. The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, will also be here, Ministers of State. It’s going to be huge. The funeral will happen at the Ga Mantse’s Palace,” he emphasized.
He therefore entreated the general public to obey the directives of the council.
