Preparations are far advanced by the Ga Traditional Council for the funeral rites of the Ga Manye, Naa Dedei Omaedru III, slated for Saturday at the Ga Mantse palace, after an Accra High Court set aside an injunction preventing the funeral from taking place.
In Thursday’s ruling, the High Court, presided over by Justice Patrick Baayeh, said it granted the injunction in error because the applicants of the motion that gave rise to the injunction failed to give the court the true state of affairs, consequently lifting the injunction.
At the funeral grounds, both the outer and inner perimeters of the palace had been draped in red and black satin, with a central canopy mounted for public viewing of the remains of the Queen-mother of the Ga Traditional Area.
The portrait of Naa Dedei Omaedru had also been displayed around the various canopies.
There was also a heavy police presence deployed to the area to ensure law and order and to protect the bereaved and mourners.
The Ga Traditional Council recently revised its directive on the closure of shops ahead of preparations for the final funeral rites of the late queen, Naa Dedei Omaedru III.
The Council previously directed that all offices and shops in the Central Business District in the Greater Accra Region be closed for three days from the 26th to the 29th of October.
But the Council, in a new statement, directed that offices and businesses be closed only on Saturday, October 28, not the previously announced three-day directive.
The longest-serving Queen Mother of the Ga State died on December 26, 2022, aged 88.
Naa Dedei Omaedru III, known in private life as Naa Dedei Ablah, was born in 1934. She was enstooled as Ga Manye in 1963, aged 29. In 2016, she left Ghana for the USA and stayed for five years.
On April 14, 2021, Naa Dedei Omaedru III returned to Ghana and received a grand reception by a high-powered delegation led by Nii Adote Otintor II, the Acting President of the Ga Traditional Council.
She reigned for nearly six decades (59 years).
By: Isaac Clottey
