Blows at funeral over pastor’s coffin

Fighting erupted at the Christian Praise International Church (CPIC) at Sunyani on Saturday over the coffin meant to be used to bury their area head pastor, Apostle Ephraim Brenya-Baah.

Apostle Brenya-Baah, 40, died last month at home shortly after complaining of chest pains.

A solemn burial ceremony was held at the Sunyani Jubilee Park, and just before the body could be conveyed from an ambulance to be placed in a coffin, trouble ensued.

The late pastor’s father, identified only as Mr. Brenya, and some others, rushed forward to destroy the coffin, claiming it was too inferior to be used to bury a head pastor.

They hit the coffin on the ground, breaking it into pieces.

The fight then started as other members of the church attempted stopping them.

The fighting was so intense that police at the scene could not contain the situation, and had to call for rinenforcement before order was restored.

In the end, a member of the church, Mr. Willie Wise, rushed to purchase a new coffin at the cost of GHc7,000 before the burial ceremony could continue.

The Ghanaian Times also gathered that the members also prevented the General Overseer of the church, Dr Jackson Owusu, from attending the burial service as they threatened to attack him if he did so.

Elisabeth Hanson, a member of the church, told the Ghanaian Times that the use of the inferior coffin was an attempt to disgrace the late pastor because he had not been on good terms with the General Overseer.

When the Times approached a member of the funeral committee for a word on the matter, he declined to comment except to say that as a church, he did not think that they should go public on the issue.

A police source told The Ghanaian Times, that some officers who were on duty at the NPP extraordinary conference, had to rush in to save the situation from degenerating.