Head Pastor denies swindling widow

Kumasi, Aug. 26, GNA - The Senior Pastor of the Amakom Grace Baptist Church in Kumasi, Reverend Dr Kojo Osei Wusuh has denied media reports that he has taken over the estate of his late brother's widow and children.

He said the claim was part of an attempt to "impugn my integrity, destroy my reputation and destroy my Christian witness."

A Kumasi-based media house in its Monday, August 24, edition, carried on its front page, a story headlined: "Head Pastor swindles Widow", in which a litany of allegations including using false pretences to empty his late brother's bank accounts and taking over of his house, despite letters of administration at a court.

Reacting to the allegations at a press conference in Kumasi, Rev. Osei-Wusuh said the report was not true.

He said he contributed 60 per cent of the cost of the two- bedroom house from his own resources for the late brother, where his family relocated after retiring from the teaching career.

The property, he said was given to the wife and five surviving children, two of whom were from a previous marriage.

Rev. Osei-Wutah said his deceased brother was a teacher at the Anglican Senior High School in Kumasi.

He was emphatic that no money from the brother's account went to the extended family and that even donations at his funeral were given to the wife and kids.

In addition, he was doling out GH¢50 to the widow for her upkeep every month and had also assumed responsibility of paying the school fees of her two children.

His trouble with the widow started when the extended family stood against her decision to sell the house since the other children would be at the disadvantage.

The family is seeking orders from a Kumasi Court to be given the first option to buy the house for the benefit of the other two children, who unlike the widow and her three kids are incidentally not from Kotei, the father's home town where the house is located.