Death is a period where family and friends are expected to come together to mourn and peacefully lay the departed to rest, but that is not always the case.
Some families have been thrown into disagreements after the death of a family member as people fight over who has the right to do what or inherit what.
Some prominent figures in Ghana have not been spared from such disputes, as the entire nation was given front-row seats to their family’s ‘wars’ after their demise.
The questions are almost always the same: Who is the legitimate spouse? Who controls the burial rites? Who inherits the property? Who leads the institution the deceased built? And they tend to surface most explosively precisely when the stakes are highest.
Here are some personalities whose deaths have been marred by such disputes.
Apostle Kwadwo Safo Kantanka
The founder of the Kristo Asafo Mission of Ghana, Apostle Kwadwo Safo Kantanka, died in September 2025 but is yet to be buried after almost ten months. His death has triggered a bitter succession dispute that has escalated from internal disagreements to courtroom battles and, most recently, a shooting incident involving his daughter, who is a former Member of Parliament.
A few months before his death, Apostle Kwadwo Safo, who is also the founder of the Kantanka Group of Companies, named Adwoa Safo as the leader of the Kantanka Family, but no successor was named for the Kristo Asafo Mission, even though years prior he had mentioned in an interview that he was grooming his son, Israel Kwadwo Safo Jnr, to take over from him.
Over the weekend, Kwadwo Safo Jnr, widely known as Nana Kwadwo Safo Akofena, was installed as the new leader of the mission by some factions within the church — despite a court injunction against his installation.
A rival faction argues that although Apostle Kwadwo Safo had earlier named Kwadwo Safo Jnr as his successor under an older arrangement, changes made to the church’s constitution in 2024 altered the succession process, rendering him ineligible.
It was when family members say Adwoa Safo was trying to serve her brother the injunction that a shooting incident occurred, leaving her with an ear injury.
Amid all of this, the final funeral rites for Apostle Kwadwo Safo, revered in Ghana as a pioneering religious leader, inventor, and champion of local industry, are yet to take place. His burial has been announced for July 30, 2026, at Gomoa Mpota in the Central Region, with a national funeral service expected on July 31 at Independence Square in Accra.
But even that is disputed; a faction of the family insists no date has been officially set and that one will only be agreed upon after they are granted access to the body.
Charles Kwadwo Fosu (Daddy Lumba)
One of Ghana’s most celebrated highlife musicians, Charles Kwadwo Fosu, popularly known as Daddy Lumba, passed away on July 26, 2025, at the age of 60. His death triggered a nationwide outpouring of grief, but within months, a deeply public family war turned things sour.
The disputes were multiple and overlapping.
There was the question of who should lead the funeral, the extended family head or the immediate family. There was the question of which woman was his lawful wife. And there were serious financial allegations against those controlling the funds raised in his name.
A lawsuit filed by members of the musician’s immediate family accused the designated family head, Kofi Owusu, of secrecy, mismanagement, and attempting to hijack the memorial rites. The plaintiffs claimed they were deliberately excluded from critical decisions and lodged a formal complaint with the Homicide Division of the Ghana Police Service, demanding an investigation into the circumstances of his death.
Lumba’s German statutory marriage to added an international legal dimension to the dispute. His wife, Akosua Serwah Fosuh, held a statutory marriage from Germany contracted in 2004. However, the Fosu Royal Family argued that the marriage was no longer valid, claiming she had customarily dissolved it by presenting traditional drinks, and that a woman named Priscilla Ofori, better known as Odo Broni — who had lived with the musician for over 15 years and had six children with him — should be recognised as his wife.
The Manhyia Palace was drawn into the dispute, with the Asantehene’s traditional council dissolving the initial funeral committee and appointing a new one. The palace, however, publicly distanced itself from the dispute shortly after, highlighting the limits of traditional authority when faced with modern legal and financial structures.
The funeral which was originally scheduled for December 6, 2025, was postponed due to the ongoing disputes.
On December 12, 2025, the Accra High Court granted an injunction restraining the family head from proceeding with the burial, only to reverse its decision hours later when the applicants failed to pay a GH¢2 million deposit required to enforce the order within the set deadline.
Ghana’s music king was finally laid to rest at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium in Kumasi on Sturday, December 13, 2025, but with members of his immediate family and his first wife notably absent from the ceremony.
A subsequent attempt to hold a separate funeral for him was blocked by court, and the event was converted into a celebration of the first wife’s life instead.
Daasebre Gyamenah
In 2016, the burial of highlife musician Daasebre Gyamenah was delayed by a dispute between his maternal and paternal families over who had the right to bury him. The disagreement became more complicated when members of the Muslim community also laid claim to burial rights, citing reports that the musician had been a Muslim.
The matter was eventually referred to the Koforidua High Court for determination. After months of tension, both families agreed to settle out of court. The compromise allowed the maternal family to perform the burial rites, with the agreement that Daasebre would be buried in Anomabo.
The settlement finally cleared the way for his funeral.
Daasebre, who died in July 2026, was finally laid to rest in November that same year.
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