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 metre road from Kalabule junction to his house at Mataheko, near Ngleshi Amanfro in the Ga South Municipality was being fixed.

Aside that, his house had been freshly painted. Funeral posters, a billboard, banners and ribbons in black and white colours 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 9am on Friday, August to Saturday, August 5, – 4am

The burial service will be held at the at the Accra Sports Stadium on Saturday from 8am 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 followed by a thanksgiving service on Sunday, August 6, 2023 at the Resurrection Power New Generation Church auditorium.

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 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 among the family.

However, Yaa Boakye, daughter of the late founder and General Overseer of the Resurrection Power New Generation Church, Rev. Anthony Kwadwo 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.

“Those of you seeking to sow seeds of confusion should park yourselves, this is a message from God. You guys should park yourself. Those of you creating issues on social media, you are fighting with God.”

“The congregation is not for Kwadwo Boakye, it belongs to God and he was at the helm. So you might as well go and fight God not the congregation.

“You can’t fight the church and what God has said is final.

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 said.

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 over the church.

But she is reported to have broke 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.

Rev. Boakye’s wife fights her husband’s 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 of her husband from going ahead with funeral arrangements of the deceased. 

The wife is litigating with the family of her late husband for excluding her from the arrangements for the burial and funeral.

In her claims, Mrs Boakye said the family of her late husband had fixed August 4 and 5, 2023 to bury the deceased and organise 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 last Pastor Boakye is being kept for preservation, from releasing the body of the deceased to the family of the deceased.

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 the death of Rev. Boakye.

She said she was prevented from attending the one-week observance of the deceased and had been barred from performing and observing widowhood rites and mourn 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 of her late husband 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 organise 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.

Legal right

A family head of the Aduana of Oboo Kwahu, Opanin Kwadwo Ampadu, speaking on behalf of Mrs Boakye, said she was the  legal spouse of the late man of God, even unto the untimely death of the pastor and as the surviving wife, she was customarily and legally entitled to be part of the final burial ceremony and observe the widowhood rites without any threats or hindrances.

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 Ashantis and or until otherwise ordered by the court. 

Source: GraphicOnline