Preparations are underway for the burial of Rev Anthony Kwadwo Boakye on Saturday, August 5, 2023, in spite of a court injunction secured by the wife to restrain the burial and final funeral rites from going ahead.
On Wednesday [August 2] afternoon, Graphic Online observed that the 600-meter road from Kalabule junction to his house at Mataheko, near Ngleshi Amanfro in the Ga South Municipality was being fixed.
Aside from that, his house had been freshly painted. Funeral posters, a billboard, banners, and ribbons in black and white colors had been used to decorate the house.
A cloth specially designed for the funeral is selling at GH¢500 for 12 yards, Graphic Online understands.
He is expected to be laid in state at the arena of the Accra International Conference Centre from 9 am on Friday, August 4 to Saturday, August 5, 2023 – at 4 am, per the funeral poster adverts on television seen by Graphic Online.
The burial service will be held at the Accra Sports Stadium on Saturday from 8 am to 12 midday.
The remains would be transported to the church premises at Ngleshi Amanfro where a special tomb has been prepared by the church as his final resting place.
It will be a private burial to be followed by a thanksgiving service on Sunday, August 6, 2023, at the Resurrection Power New Generation Church auditorium.
Controversy over Rev Kwadwo Boakye’s burial: Preparations underway in spite of court injunction. PHOTOS BY TIMOTHY GOBAH
The late Rev. Anthony Kwadwo Boakye was a popular pastor and founder of the Resurrection Power New Generation Church, located at Ngleshi Amanfro near the Kasoa toll booth.
He died at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in February 2023.
Before his death, there were reports he was not well and was not seen in public for a long time.
He was reported to have received treatment at a hospital from where he was referred to Korle Bu, where he died.
Said to be controversial, he once claimed that he died and was resurrected after five days.
He had thousands of church members and was noted for providing free bus services for members from various parts of Accra and nearby regions for church activities.
Controversy over Rev Kwadwo Boakye’s burial: Preparations underway in spite of court injunction. PHOTOS BY TIMOTHY GOBAH
Injunction
The widow of the late clergyman has secured an injunction against the funeral slated for this weekend.
She wants the burial and final funeral rites to be halted following a disagreement with the deceased’s family larger family members.
However, one of the deceased’s children – Yaa Boakye, has declared that her father’s funeral will come off as scheduled.
She expressed her views in a video posted on social media.
In the video post, Yaa Boakye said any person seeking to block the funeral would incur the wrath of God.
She said the congregation is not for Kwadwo Boakye, it belongs to God and Boakye was at the helm.
“Nobody can stop the funeral, I am telling you… I cannot come on social media and talk my mind. God has asked me to warn those that want to stop the funeral. If you want trouble, then venture…” she stated.
In November 2021, it was reported Rev Kwadwo Boakye had suffered a stroke but his wife denied the reports and said he was only taking a break from active Ministry after more than two decades.
She later assumed responsibility for the church.
But she is reported to have broken away to form her own church after some disagreements with the church leadership.
Some considered Rev Kwadwo Boakye as a controversial man for the curses he sometimes rained on people who opposed his views.
Controversy over Rev Kwadwo Boakye’s burial: Preparations underway in spite of court injunction. PHOTOS BY TIMOTHY GOBAH
- Boakye’s wife fights family over funeral arrangement
Meanwhile, Graphic Online’s Emelia Ennin Abbey reports that Margaret Boakye, the wife of the late Rev. Anthony Kwadwo Boakye has secured an injunction from the High Court in Kumasi to prevent the family from going ahead with funeral arrangements.
The wife is litigating with the family for excluding her from the arrangements for the burial and funeral.
In her claims, Mrs. Boakye said the family had fixed August 4 and 5, 2023 to bury the deceased and organize a final funeral rite without her involvement.
She said posters, obituaries, invitation cards, and other notices had excluded her identity as the wife, while she had also not been officially notified of the funeral arrangements of her late husband.
Defendants
The widow has also secured a court order restraining a funeral home where the body of the late Pastor Boakye is being kept for preservation, from releasing the body to the family.
A copy of the writ of summons seen by Graphic Online indicated that apart from the funeral home, the injunction was also against, the Resurrection Power New Generation Church, maternal family head of the deceased, Abusuapanin W.O. Amoah; the Ankobiahene of the Asantehene, who is also the Gyaasehene of Manhyia in the Ashanti Region, Nana Ampong; the biological children of the deceased, Benjamin Boakye, Jennifer Boakye and Maame Afia.
Why is she suing?
In the statement of claim, Mrs. Boakye indicated that she was legally married under the ordinance to the late pastor for 26 years until his death.
She said she was prevented from attending the one-week observance and had been barred from performing and observing widowhood rites and mourning her late husband as custom required of a surviving widow.
She claimed she was also restricted from participating in the one-week observance by the family head and his children without any reason.
That, she said, resulted in an argument, but the Otumfuo’s Ankobiahene intervened and asked that, for the sake of peace, the two parties should hold separate events to mark the one-week observance.
She said the Ankobiahene assured all parties that he would ensure that the differences were resolved amicably to allow the parties to organize the final funeral rites of the late pastor together while Mrs. Boakye performs the customary widowhood rites.
Subsequently, Mrs. Boakye said the Ankobiahene invited her and the other parties to a meeting to address the issues, but the other parties, for some unexplained reasons, did not attend the said meeting.
The prohibitory order was, therefore, to restrain the defendants from undertaking or purporting to undertake to bury and or observe any burial rites until all the parties had mutually and unconditionally agreed to allow her to perform all widowhood rites as required by the customary law and practice of the Asantes and or until otherwise ordered by the court.
