Court orders GH¢2m payment or Lumba’s funeral will proceed

The Accra High Court has issued a new directive in the ongoing legal dispute over the funeral of the late music legend, Charles Kojo Fosu, popularly known as Daddy Lumba.

It ordered the applicants to pay GH¢2 million by 2 pm on Friday, 12 December 2025, or risk allowing his funeral to proceed on Saturday, December 13, 2025, as originally scheduled.

The court’s latest caveat follows an earlier injunction restraining the family head, Kofi Owusu, from going ahead with the burial and final funeral rites without the full involvement of all sides of the family. The injunction, filed by members of Daddy Lumba’s maternal family— including his sister Ernestina Brempomaa and uncle Yaw Opoku—also barred Transitions Funeral Home from releasing the body.

The maternal relatives argued that they were sidelined in the preparation of the funeral, a concern the court acknowledged in its initial ruling. Affidavits before the court suggested that the immediate family was not adequately consulted, prompting the judge to halt the burial and emphasise the need for broader family participation in accordance with custom and due process.

In that earlier ruling, the court directed the family head to convene a comprehensive stakeholder meeting within three weeks to agree on a new burial date and ensure that all funds raised for the funeral remain separate from the accounts of the Daddy Lumba Memorial Foundation. The applicants were also instructed to file supporting affidavits detailing their concerns and their preferred approach to the funeral arrangements.

However, after recalling lawyers for both sides, the court added a significant new condition: the applicants must pay GH¢2 million by 2 pm today to cover costs already incurred by the family head in preparing for the December 13 event. Failure to meet this financial requirement will automatically permit Transitions Funeral Home to release the body and allow the funeral to proceed as planned.

The late Daddy Lumba, who passed away on July 26, 2025, at age 60, left behind a legacy as one of Ghana’s most celebrated musicians. His funeral, however, has been overshadowed by disputes between his maternal family and the paternal family head over leadership of the rites and control of funeral-related funds.

With the court’s new directive, the fate of Saturday’s funeral hinges on whether the applicants meet today’s 2 pm deadline, marking a critical turning point in a dispute that continues to draw national attention.