You sing out loud to tease your alter -ego
He turns round to reciprocate
Both trade loud notes and wacky sounds. – Social media.
In Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night (Act 1 Sc 1) Duke Orsino proclaims: “If music be the food of love, play on; Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting. The appetite may sicken, and so die.
That strain again; it had a dying fall… “We love music; we are enchanted by music…our Quartet at College, choristers, choir-master at a Hall in the University. Indeed, we know the Aristotelian Socratic and Platonic concepts of music, but we can simply say with Fela Ransome Kuti Music is a spiritual thing. You don’t have to play with it”.
We had enjoyed “Ehuu Girl” by Francis Greg? Just as we savoured “Ehuu” by Prophet Golden Boy where the astute musician croons: “Osono has got hernia, mebo wo tutuo …wodwene me ho a wo bewu ntem…” and “Ehuu”, the trap song by Showbezzy and the hip-hop track by Sherry Boss which features Amerado.
Why are we circumlocuting? It is all about the beautiful rendition of “Ehuu” by Maame Ode, at Apostle Kantanka’s funeral. Maame Ode says she sang the song for Reverend Obofour; she does not know Akofena; she knows Akofena refers to “sekan” (a cutlass or machete). But the mock in the song could titillate some of the hearers and humiliate others: “Abaa ba, yehu-ehuu, W’ani na awu, ehuu;ommoo wo din – ehuu”.
It all started when Akofena planned his swearing-in as successor of his late father; he became the leader of his church. At a time, his father was still in the morgue, his sister Hon. Adwoa Safo sought to stop the swearing-in ceremony. When she drove to his brother’s residence, she was not only denied entry to the residence; her vehicle was pelted with bullets – and her right arm and ear got hit, allegedly. The ceremony went ahead; Adwoa Safo got hospitalised and later had to be flown overseas (US?) for treatment.
A lot of questions surfaced: Why was there firing? Who fired the weapon? Who gave the shooting order? Was the shooting intentional? Was the shooting done in self-defence? And many, many more questions…People are even asking: Do Akofena and Adwoa Safo come from the same mother? What is the position of the other siblings? Which of the 20 wives of Apostle Kantanka begat Akofena?
Why should anyone, including Akofena, underrate Adwoa Safo intelligence and acumen?Born on December 28, 1981, and home tutored; she took her ‘O’ and ‘A’ Levels. At age 17, she got admission to the University of Ghana for LLB (Law) in 2002. She went to the Ghana School of Law and was called to the Bar in 2004 at the age of 22. She worked briefly at the Attorney-General’s Office in the District of Columbia, Washington DC, in the United States.
She returned to Ghana in 2005 and joined the law firm Kulendi @ Law and later, Zoe, Akyea and Co. law firm. Adwoa Safo entered into politics and got elected as the NPP Member of Parliament for Dome Kwabenya in 2012. She got re-elected in 2016 and became the Deputy Majority Leader. She was made Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection till July 28, 2022 when she was dismissed by President Nana Akufo-Addo.
While she won over 63,000 votes in 2012, representing 63%, she garnered 63,400 votes, representing almost 68% in 2016. In the 2020 election she gained 75,000 votes representing over 58%. She lost the parliamentary primaries to Michel Oquaye Jnr., son of the former Speaker of Parliament, Professor Mike Oquaye. Adwoa Safo has two children with Hon. Kennedy Agyapong, the former MP for Assin Central.
Adwoa Safo announced that his father’s funeral would be held on 30th July, but Akofena countered: “I am still hearing that false information is being circulated regarding the burial. Such situations are part of life and the story of Joseph and his brothers in the Bible reminds us that misunderstandings can arise in every family. However, I am not troubled by it. My father knew why he ordained me. I am not motivated by greed or personal gain. What I am saying is simple; no member of the Kristo Asafo Mission should attend the funeral on July 30 at Gomoa Mpota”.
We were counting the days…Then 30th July came. What was going to happen? Akofena had gone to court and secured an interim injunction for 10 days on the funeral. On that morning of that day, we saw the designated hearse for the body parked at the Transitions Funeral Home under police guard – because of the court order.
Akofena and his supporters were jubilating when the court granted the injunction. In a red batakari, he was dancing in a pick-up car to the music of the kete drummers. But, unknown to many people, Adwoa Safo had outsmarted all of us and got his dead father’s body carried from where he had been kept and placed at a secret Funeral Home.
The body arrived at the Gomoa Mpota Funeral grounds in a white pick-up. Then, the funeral itself; Adwoa Safo dancing adowa would make the Asiedu-Nketia sign of thumb brushing the neck, and one dancer remarked, “Y’aye Akofena (suurial); y’atwa wonom tiri” (We have tricked Akofena and his supporters – we have cut their heads.)
Despite the order by Akofena not to honour the 30th July fixed by Adwoa Safo, many of the Kristo Asafo Church members swarmed the funeral grounds at Gomoa Mpota. Six of apostle Safo’s children; Sara Adwoa Safo, Monarch Safo, Ohemaa Ama Safowaa, Nana Ama Sarfo Nyamekye were present, that is all of Apostle Safo Kantanka’s children save 40 -year-old Akofena.
Adwoa Sarfo wore a black bandage on the right arm indicating that there was an injury on the right arm. It was not for us to guess what had happened to the right arm; was the injury real or fake? At a point, she may have forgotten herself and raised both arms. She alerted herself and showed the world that she was suffering pain.
Nana Nkansah Boadu (Chief of Agric Nzema in Kumasi) was reportedly (the representative of Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Asantehene) at the funeral grounds. Social media commentators and observers on Ghanaian and Asante culture would raise questions over whether he was an official representative of Otumfuo or not, given the controversy surrounding the date of the funeral.
At the Black Star Square the following day, Friday 31st July) the funeral was continued; it was culture at its best. Dignitaries, traditional leaders, members of the Kristo Asafo Mission were there in their numbers – despite the injunction by the court.
Among the dignitaries who were at the Black Star Square were; the chief of Nsawam, Okokroko Nana Kwamina Amoah, representing Odeneho Kwafo Akoto III, Akwamuhene; former National Chairman of NPP, Freddy Blay; the Director of Legal Affairs of NPP, Gary Nimako and the MP for Dome Kwabenya, Elikem Akurugu.
At the Kristo Asafo Mission, members trooped in from all corners of Ghana.
Tributes were read by the family members as well as the children who extolled the late Apostle Safo’s commitment to faith, education, innovation and entrepreneurship.
No doubt, the late Apostle’s influence and contribution in the promotion of indigenous technology and manufacturing permeated all the tributes that were read.
As a staunch believer in herbal medicine, he established the Kantanka Herbal Clinic and his products were well received. He was an advocate of the consumption of organic foods and his farms were always available for natural foodstuffs as well as natural fishes.
Good bye 110-year-old great inventor, God keep you well… Till we all meet.
