The family of Ga Manye, Naa Dedei Omaedru III, has issued a warning to halt the Ga Traditional Council’s funeral service for their deceased relative. They claim that despite numerous requests for involvement, the Traditional Council has excluded them from the funeral preparations.
The head of the family, along with six others, has obtained a temporary court order to stop the funeral, which is originally planned for Saturday, October 28. Nevertheless, a member of the funeral committee, Nii Ayikoi Otoo, has affirmed that the funeral will proceed as scheduled because they have not yet received the court order. A member of the Ga Manye family, Abdul Salam, acknowledged that the Ga Traditional Council has not been officially notified of the court order, which applies to both the deceased’s remains and the funeral ceremony.
Also Read: One Dead As Truck Loaded With Beer Runs Into NPP Office
“We decide who to sue, if the suit fails, it should come from the court. The people [Ga Traditional Council] don’t have respect for the family. We will serve them with the injunction. The injunction is not just on the body, but also the funeral.” he said on Accra-based Citi FM.
Abdul Salam explained that they turned to the law court after the Ga Traditional Council failed to partner with the family in the preparations for the funeral.
“It is, as though, people are using power rather than the law, and we have been told time without number that the remains of our mother and queen belong to the state. And continuously, we have been told of this, but the fact is the remains belong to the wider family, that is the position of the law. We are talking about Naa Dedei Omaedru III, it’s our job as a family to also invite the Traditional Council because it is from the family that we elected and enstooled our mother and gave her for service to the state.”
“It is our belief that it should be a partnership between the family and the Ga Traditional Council. However, they are pushing us aside. We have been cautioning them to slow down so that we can talk and find a way forward, but our calls have fallen on deaf ears. The body is with the family, and not with them. It is the family that sent the body to the morgue. Everyone knows that the body is with us, but they have said that with or without the body, they will continue with the funeral,” he added.
Also Read: Why You No Longer See Me In Movies- Martha Ankomah
Background
Ga Manye, Naa Dedei Omaedru III died in December 2022.
A book of condolences was signed and opened by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on June 19, 2023.
The final funeral rites of the late Ga Manye were slated from October 15 to 31 2023.
The Ga Traditional Council recently revised its directive on the closure of shops ahead of preparations for the final funeral rites of the late queen, Naa Dedei Omaedru III.
The Council previously directed that all offices and shops in the Central Business District in the Greater Accra Region be closed for three days from the 26th to the 29th of October.
The Council in a new statement directed that offices and businesses be closed only on Saturday, October 28, and not the previously announced three-day directive.
