Former Dome-Kwabenya MP Sarah Adwoa Safo buried her father, Kristo Asafo Mission founder Apostle Kwadwo Safo Kantanka, at Gomoa Mpota in the Central Region on Thursday, 30th July 2026. The day before, an Accra High Court had ordered her to halt the funeral for 10 days. On Monday, 10th August, her brother and opponent in the dispute, Nana Kwadwo Safo Akofena I, publicly apologised for the conflict.
Who has the right to bury a parent when relatives disagree? What happens when a court order is simply ignored? We will delve into what the law says and what is still unresolved.
Apostle Kwadwo Safo Kantanka dies
Apostle Kwadwo Safo Kantanka, founder of the Kristo Asafo Mission and the Kantanka automobile brand, died on the 11th of September 2025. He was widely seen as one of Ghana's leading inventors and industrialists, with his church and the Kantanka Group of Companies credited with work in engineering, car manufacturing and technology. For many of us Ghanaians, the name Kantanka still brings to mind the locally made vehicles his companies produced.
Though his age at the time of his death was heavily debated, Kantanka's Wikipedia page reports that he was born on the 26th of August 1948. This means that the Professor Emeritus was 77 years old at the time of his death.
However, what followed his death was almost eleven months of back-to-back disagreements over who should bury him.
Apostle Safo's will names Akofena as heir
On Monday, the 6th of July 2026, the late Apostle's will was read at the High Court in Accra, YEN reported. It named Akofena, also known as Israel Nana Kwadwo Safo Kantanka Jnr, the eldest son of Kantanka and Chief Executive Officer of the Kantanka Group, as heir.
@channel1tvgh The Kristo Asafo Mission of Ghana has installed Nana Kwadwo Safo Akofena I, son of the late Apostle Kwadwo Safo Kantanka, as the new leader of the mission. The announcement was made on Sunday, June 21, 2026, via the mission’s official Facebook page, describing it as a significant milestone and praying for wisdom and divine guidance for the new leader. The development comes amid reports of a court injunction and an alleged shooting incident involving former MP Sarah Adwoa Safo. Credit: Kristo Asafo Mission of Ghana #ChannelOneNews #KristoAsafo #Kantanka #GhanaNews ♬ original sound - Channel One TV
The will reading was expected to bring some legal clarity to the dispute between him and his elder sister, Adwoa Safo.
However, Citinewsroom reported that Adwoa Safo's lawyer, Kwame Boafo Akuffo, speaking at a press conference on her behalf, argued that the relevant section of the will names Akofena only as head of the Safo family, not as successor to lead the church. This came alongside her legal team's claim that Kantanka's will had been altered.
@adom_tv There is no properly installed leader of the church, and the will has not appointed anyone as the leader of the church – Lawyer Kwame Akuffo, lawyer for Adwoa Safo #AdomNews ♬ original sound - AdomTV
By then, Adwoa Safo had already announced the funeral dates of the late Kantanka without Akofena at the venue, and that move was followed by a lot of drama.
Announcement of funeral dates by Adwoa Safo
At a press conference she held in Accra on the 29th of May 2026, Adwoa Safo announced that the burial would take place at Gomoa Mpota on the 30th of July, followed by a funeral service at Independence Square in Accra on the 31st of July and a thanksgiving service in Kumasi on the 8th of August 2026.
Adwoa Safo also said she chose Kumasi for the thanksgiving service because her father, Apostle Kwadwo Safo Kantanka, was a proud son of the Ashanti Region, and she was doing it to honour him.
In a later interview on Angel FM, she assured the public that she had confirmed the dates with prominent figures such as the Asantehene, Osei Tutu II, and former President John Agyekum Kufuor before fixing them.
We believe that Adwoa Safo's public assurances came at a tense moment for the family. The will had just been read, and relatives were openly divided over what it meant for the inheritance.
Speaking on Angel FM, she urged the public to ignore rumours that the funeral had been cancelled. By then, preparations were already well under way. Her firm message may therefore have been meant, at least in part, to make sure mourners still turned up.
She has not said this herself, however. She has insisted that the dispute is not about her father's estate at all, but about carrying out his final instructions.
Shooting at a Kwabenya residence
On Sunday, 21st June 2026, the tension turned violent. A shooting at Akofena's residence in Kwabenya, during a contested ceremony to install a new leader of the Kristo Asafo Mission, left Adwoa Safo injured. According to the prosecution, she suffered gunshot wounds to her face, left ear, lower jaw and the back of her head, and her Toyota Land Cruiser Prado was damaged.
3News reported that the incident led to arrests and cost the family's security firm its operating licence. The Ghana Police Service said she had been refused entry to the premises before the shooting. She later told YEN that 48 bullets had hit her car and that she had needed surgery.
Akofena was arrested the next day. He and eight others were charged at the Adenta Circuit Court, pleaded not guilty and were granted bail. Akofena has denied the allegations, insisting he had left before any shots were fired. Adwoa Safo's lawyers, meanwhile, want the case moved to the High Court, arguing that the main charge is too serious for a Circuit Court.
Whether the Attorney-General will agree is not yet known. As things stand, the case is far from over: the court did not sit on 23rd September, and the matter has been adjourned to 13th January 2027.
Akofena declares the 30th July date "null and void"
Akofena, who now leads the Kristo Asafo Mission, argued that their father's will named him, not Adwoa Safo, head of the Kantanka family, which he said gave him authority over the body and the funeral. He added that the family had not been consulted before Adwoa Safo announced the dates on the 29th of May.
At a press conference he held on the 27th of July, he therefore called the 30th July date "null and void", citing unresolved disagreements over the arrangements.
Adwoa Safo countered that she was carrying out her father's wishes. She also pointed to the church's amended 2024 constitution. Under that constitution, she said, her father had removed Akofena from church leadership in 2024 and had named her head of the family in February 2025.
Both claims rest on documents the FillaDey has not seen. That makes it genuinely hard to say who has the stronger case, and that question may only be answered in court.
High Court grants a 10-day interim injunction
The interim injunction was issued by an Accra High Court, presided over by Justice Klorkor Okai-Mills. It barred Adwoa Safo, together with her agents and assigns, from holding any funeral activities on 30th and 31st July 2026.
The Kristo Asafo Mission applied for the order over issues connected to the late industrialist's estate. The Mission's lawyer said the order would stop her from organising the funeral until the court had examined the matter further.
@the1957news LIVE | Nana Kofi Safo Kantanka, lawyer for Kristo Asafo Mission, has clarified that the late founder and leader of the church, Apostle Kwadwo Safo Kantanka, named his first son, Nana Akofena Kwadwo Safo, as the head of the Kantanka Family in his last will and testament. According to the lawyer, the late religious leader, however, did not name a specific individual to succeed him as leader of the church.
♬ original sound - The1957News
Burial at Gomoa Mpota
Thousands of mourners gathered at Gomoa Mpota on 30th July despite the order. The burial took place at the Kantanka Automobile Manufacturing Centre, in line with what supporters described as the Apostle's own wish.
Posts on social media claimed that police had intercepted the hearse. Adwoa Safo's spokesperson, Seth Kofi Kissi, denied that the body had been seized by police or kept at Transitions Funeral Home. No police or funeral-home statement has confirmed where the body was held before the burial.
National funeral service at Independence Square, Accra
The national funeral service followed on Friday, 31st July, at Independence Square (also known as Black Star Square) in Accra. Akofena did not attend either the burial or the funeral service. For the leader of the church his father founded, staying away from both events was a striking choice, whatever his reasons were.
Thanksgiving service at Prempeh Assembly Hall, Kumasi
The final event was a thanksgiving service on Saturday, 8th August, at the Prempeh Assembly Hall in Kumasi, starting at 9 a.m. The hall was filled to capacity, and more people gathered outside.
Former Vice President and NPP flagbearer Dr Mahamudu Bawumia was among the guests. He described the late Apostle as a father figure who had advised and encouraged him.
A rainbow appeared over the city during the service. Members who spoke to Adom News said it showed the Apostle was an "African star", and they thanked Adwoa Safo and her siblings for completing the rites. Whether you see the rainbow as a sign or as ordinary August weather in Kumasi, it clearly meant a great deal to the people in that hall.
Akofena apologises on Onua FM
Two days after the thanksgiving, on Monday, 10th August, Akofena told Onua FM that he regretted how the funeral period had unfolded, and he apologised to Ghanaians. "Our father does not deserve this," he said. He added that no one, not even he or his sister, had come out of the dispute a winner.
Kristo Asafo elders announce plans for another funeral
When we thought all the disputes had ended, the feud flared up again, exactly a year after the Apostle's death. At a thanksgiving service at the Apostle Safo School of Science in Awoshie on Friday, 11th September, family secretary Dr Philip Siaw Kissi told the gathering that the Apostle had not yet been properly buried, whatever others might claim.
The family, he said, would set out plans for a proper burial when the time was right. No date has been announced. Veteran actor Akrobeto, who attended the service, used the occasion to back Akofena as the person responsible for burying his father. On the same day, a golden statue of the Apostle was unveiled at his burial site in Gomoa Mpota.
As we reported earlier in this post, Akofena's apology was only a month earlier, when he asked Ghanaians to let the matter rest. Perhaps the apology was about the public quarrel rather than the burial itself. Or perhaps the two sides simply have very different ideas of what a "proper" burial means. Either way, the Apostle's funeral may not be over after all.
Sources
- YEN: Contents of Apostle Safo Kantanka's will surface
- Citinewsroom: Safo Akofena was named family head, not church leader, says Adwoa Safo's lawyer
- Graphic: Akofena and eight others granted bail over shooting
- YEN: Shooting case adjourned to 13th January 2027
- Joy News: Court restrains Adwoa Safo
- Joy News: Thanksgiving service in Kumasi
- YEN: Akofena apologises to Ghanaians
- YEN: Kristo Asafo elders disclose plans for another funeral