The family of Ga Manye, Naa Dedei Omaedru III, has issued a stern warning, stating their intent to prevent the Ga Traditional Council from proceeding with the funeral service for their departed relative.
They claim that the Traditional Council has excluded them from the funeral preparations, despite numerous appeals for their involvement.
The family’s leader, along with six other individuals, has obtained an interim injunction that suspends the funeral originally planned for Saturday, October 28.
During an interview on Eyewitness News at Citi FM with Umaru Amadu Sanda, a member of the Ga Manye family, Abdul Salam, acknowledged that the Ga Traditional Council has not yet been formally served with the injunction.
He clarified that the injunction applies to both the handling of the remains and the actual funeral proceedings.
“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 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.
“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.”
In December 2022, Ga Manye, Naa Dedei Omaedru III, passed away. On June 19, 2023, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo inaugurated a book of condolences in her honor.
The final funeral rites for the late Ga Manye were originally scheduled to occur between October 15 and October 31, 2023.
Recently, the Ga Traditional Council made adjustments to its guidelines concerning the closure of businesses in preparation for the late queen, Naa Dedei Omaedru III’s final funeral rites. Initially, the Council had decreed a three-day shutdown of all offices and shops in the Central Business District of the Greater Accra Region, spanning from October 26 to October 29.
However, in a recent statement, the Council revised its instructions, specifying that offices and businesses should only close on Saturday, October 28, as opposed to the previously announced three-day closure.