The First Lady, Rebecca Akufo-Addo, together with some key officials, has been advised by Captain Nkrabeah Effeh-Dartey (rtd), lawyer for the Royal Family of Gomoa Fetteh in the Central Region, to dishonor the invitation extended to them by an unrecognized group to this year’s ‘Akwanbo’ festival.
According to the lawyer for the Twafoohene of Gomoa Akyempim Tradition Area, the purported Chief, Nana Abor Yamoah II, on whose behalf the invitation is being extended, is dead and at the mortuary of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.
In his view, the First Lady, the Regional Minister and the Member of Parliament for area are only being dragged into a mess and a cover up of the death of their illegitimate deceased Chief.
Speaking to The Chronicle and other media houses at his office yesterday in Accra, Mr Effeh-Dartey stated that such a deceit should not be tolerated.
“To our shock and surprise, we received information that his (deceased chief) cronies, and landgurads, led by ex-convict Kwasi Alhaji, is strutting about as Mankralo, a complete stranger, not even a Ghanaian citizen but a Togolese, are planning a showpiece Akwambo Festival.
“To complete the chicanery, they have printed colourful brochures and brazenly invited respectable citizens of our land, Members of Parliament, the Regional Minister and the ultimate, Her Excellency the First Lady of Ghana as Special Guest of Honour.”
In a humble appeal, he advised Mrs Akufo-Addo, as well as other invited guests, not to get themselves involved in the messy charade ongoing at Gomoa Fetteh.
Already, a ban has been placed on the celebration of the festival by the Omanhene of Gomoa Akyempim.
The deceased self-imposed chief, per records from the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, registration number: 653322, and KBTH: 2396435 and other documents, has Nana Abor Yamoah II as a body in its mortuary
Thus, Mr Effeh-Dartey stated that deceased had died about four months ago, but his cronies are deceiving the public that he has traveled abroad to seek medical attention.
“His dead body was initially put in the cooler at 37 Military Hospital, and to cover up his death, his corpse was transferred to Battor Hospital.
In order to deepen the cover up, it was transferred to a private morgue in Accra. Finally, the handlers decided to convey it to Korle Bu mortuary, where it is today,” he disclosed.
This cover up, he noted, was causing the delay of a legal battle between Nana Abor Yamoah II and Nana Abor Ewusie XX, the supposed installed chief, after the death of Nana Abor Ewusie XIX, Chief of Gomoa Fetteh, in 1993.
“As at today, we do not have an order for an injunction on the festival, but we have filed a motion on notice for an injunction, coming up on August 29, 2019.”
Meanwhile the Supreme Court has charged the Judicial Committee of the Gomoa Akyempim Traditional Council to decide on the two, as to who is legitimate, and that battle has been raging on for 10 years.