The family of the late Benjamin Asonaba Dapaah, a former member of the Council of State during the erstwhile Kufour administration, has dissociated itself from a funeral announcement made to the public.
The position taken by the family comes at a time when it is in court with the deceased’s last wife.
Information available to The Chronicle suggests that the last wife, Madam Rosemary Dapaah and her four children are separately organising the final funeral rites of the former Council of State member, who died in London in 2019.
According to sources, the funeral is being organised through some powerful connections, without any consultation with the immediate family.
The entire Asona family, who are descendants of Ama Pokuaa of Atwea, Agona Akrofuso and Yaa Yeboah’s family of Atwea, Ashanti, who constitute the immediate family of the late Benjamin Asonaba Dapaah. They are, therefore, calling on all loved ones to disregard the said event.
Notably, Madam Elizabeth Dapaah, the first widow and her eight children, out of the twelve children of the deceased, Obaapanin Akua Mfum, the only sibling of the late Asonaba’s mother, who is alive, have all washed their hands off the said funeral.
Above all, the entire Agona royal family at Nsuta-Anwonya in the Ashanti region, where the late Benjamin Asonaba Dapaah’s father was the Odikro have also disassociated themselves from the said funeral.
In an interaction with Mr. Matthew Akwasi Kumah, he told The Chronicle that the case is still pending at the Appeals Court in Kumasi and is yet to be brought to its logical conclusion.
Mr. Kumah is the representative of Mr. Yaw Opoku, the head of the family at Atwea and Obaapanin Akua Mfum, the only surviving sibling of the late mother of Asonaba Dapaah,
Akwasi Kumah, served notice to Nananom, the government, loved ones and the general public that the immediate family, the senior wife and the eight elder children have nothing to do with any funeral being organised for their beloved late son, father, uncle and grandfather.
According to Mathew Kumah, the last wife and her children failed to comply with their promise to return the body of the deceased to the rightful family members for planning a befitting burial.
They had made the promise, following a report to the Queenmother of the Nsuta Traditional area to intervene and to compel the last wife and her children to return the body.
The immediate family proceeded to court for the return of the body. However, in an unfortunate turn of events, the court set up a committee of twelve members, which comprised four family members of the deceased.
Despite complaints filed by the family members on the conduct of the committee, the presiding high court judge, Justice George Krofa Addae, later ordered for the burial of the corpse by the committee, with specific orders on the date, venue for the laying-in-state, burial site and all arrangements to be guarded by the police.
The maternal and paternal family members, the elder and senior widow, Madam Elizabeth Dapaah and all eight elder children were not involved in the burial discussion.
The burial event, which took place in December 2020 under police guard, on the orders of the court was against the family and Ashanti customs and tradition, he stated.
According to documents made available to The Chronicle, the same court in a ruling on 28th July, 2022 ordered the acting family head to pay some costs to the youngest children, which include costs related to the one-week observation which was held at Atwea, Undertakers bill in London, transportation of the corpse to Ghana and mortuary fees.
The family head has contested that no monies were paid directly to him. The head of family has since appealed against the latest order, which is pending before the Appeal Court in Kumasi.
In an interview with one of the children, Mr. Emmanuel Kwabena Owusu Dapaah, who lives and works in London, he said he was shocked to be informed by some friends on the advertisement for the father’s final funeral rites.
According to Owusu Dapaah, his father’s unfortunate demise happened after he was taken ill while on his way from the US to visit him in London.
He stated that it is unfortunate that upon arrival at the Accra airport, his junior brothers and sister seized the corpse and this led to a long legal battle with the immediate family.
This, he added, resulted in an unfortunate dispute, serious misunderstanding with the family and among the children and surviving two widows, over the botched burial and final funeral rites.
He told this paper that it has been his expectation that the immediate family will meet to schedule and prepare a befitting funeral rite in conjunction with the two surviving wives of his father and all the twelve children. Unfortunately, this has not been the case with the current advertisement.
In a follow up interview with Nana Afia Adwubi Kete II, paternal aunt of Asonaba Dapaah and queenmother of Nsuta-Anwanya, where the late Asonaba Dapaah’s father was the Odikro, Eno Akua Mfum, Obaapanin and the only surviving sibling of Asonaba’s mother and some of the elder children, Kwadwo Nketia Dapaah, Grace Dapaah and Esther Dapaah, all confirmed the position of the immediate family.
The late Benjamin Asonaba Dapaah, who is a founding member of the NPP, passed away on 21st May, 2019 in London. He served as a member of the Council of State, representing the Ashanti region from 2001-2009.
