The family of the Ga Manye, Naa Dedei Omaedru III, has vowed to prevent the burial ritual for their grieved relative from taking place.
Despite multiple requests for participation, the Traditional Council, according to the organisation, has pushed them away from burial preparations.
The family head, together with six other people, obtained an interim order against the funeral, which was set for Saturday, October 28.
However, Nii Ayikoi Otoo, a member of the burial committee, argued that the funeral would go ahead as scheduled because they had not been served with the injunction.
Abdul Salam, a member of the Ga Manye family, stated in an interview with Umaru Amadu Sanda on Citi FM’s Eyewitness News that the injunction has yet to be served on the Ga Traditional Council.
He stated that the injunction applies to both the remains and the burial.
“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.
Abdul Salam revealed that they came to the law court after the Ga Traditional Council refused to collaborate with the family on funeral arrangements.
“The choice to go to the court is that our elders at the Ga Traditional Council, the funeral committee, have refused to reason with us,” he said.
“And 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.”
He added, “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.”
Naa Dedei Omaedru III, Ga Manye, died in December 2022.
On June 19, 2023, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo signed and inaugurated a book of condolences.
The late Ga Manye’s final funeral ceremonies were scheduled between October 15 to October 31, 2023.
The Ga Traditional Council recently altered its edict on store closures in advance of the late queen, Naa Dedei Omaedru III’s, last funeral rituals.
The Council had already instructed that all offices and stores in the Greater Accra Region’s Central Business District close for three days from October 26th to October 29th.
In a fresh announcement, the Council recommended that offices and businesses close solely on Saturday, October 28, rather than the previously stated three-day closure.
“This is an update to our previous notice of September 4th, 2023.” “The Ga Traditional Council has determined that shops and markets within Accra will be closed on Saturday, October 28th, 2023 only, rather than from October 26th to October 29th, 2023 to October 31st, 2023 as previously announced,” the council said in a new statement.
“In addition, it is required that all markets, shops and offices in Accra should be draped in red and black, our mourning colours from the 15th of October to the 31st of October 2023. We respectfully urge everyone to comply fully with this announcement.”
