Lawyer for Madam Akosua Serwaa Fosu, the woman claiming to be the only legal wife of the late highlife legend Daddy Lumba, has explained that the suit filed at the Accra High Court seeks to affirm her legal status and prevent the alleged sidelining of her rights as the lawful spouse.

Speaking on the Asaase Breakfast Show on Friday (10 October), William Kusi, Esq, said the widow was compelled to take legal action after receiving correspondence from the musician’s family suggesting that she was a “divorcee.”

“We are seeking a declaration that Madam Serwaa Fosu is the only lawful spouse of the late Charles Kwadwo Fosu,” Kusi said.

“The family’s claim that she was divorced is false. Their own letter to that effect forced us to act to ensure her rights as a lawful widow are not violated.”

Kusi said the couple’s ordinance marriage, contracted in December 2004 in Bonnheim, Germany, remains valid and was never dissolved. Under Ghanaian law, he explained, a man married under the ordinance cannot legally marry a second woman.

“The law doesn’t admit two wives under ordinance marriage,” the lawyer emphasised. “If a man married under the ordinance enters into another union without dissolving the first, that second marriage is null and void — it never existed.”

He argued that while another woman, Priscilla Ofori, known publicly as Odo Bruni, lived with the late musician, that cohabitation does not constitute a legal marriage.

“At best, the law treats her as a mistress,” he said. “If Daddy Lumba had made provisions for her in a will, those could stand, but she cannot be described as a wife in law.”

According to Kusi, the suit also includes a request for an injunction to preserve the widow’s rights pending the court’s determination of the matter before the planned funeral on 6 December.

“We filed early enough so the court can determine the issue before the funeral,” he noted. “We do not want to delay the state burial; we only want legal clarity and respect for due process.”

Credit: Asaaseradio