Five Adventist brothers defy obsolete family tradition

Kruboa (Ash), Dec 8, GNA - Five Adventists Basare brothers have in clear defiance of a family custom refused to pay their share of monies charged by a fetish priest hired by the family to investigate the cause of the death of their 114 year-old grandfather.

The family of the five brothers who worship at the Seventh-Day Adventist (SDA) Church, decided to go by a Basare tradition to hire a fetish priest to look into the death of their centenarian grandfather and asked each member of the family to contribute 10,000 cedis towards the fetish charge.

The five who thought the act was in contravention with their Christian faith and also apparently fed up with the practice, decided not to pay their share.

Mr Charles Tawiah, spokesperson for the five, who spoke to the Ghana News Agency at Kruboa near Tepa in the Ahafo-Ano North district, said their decision was to clearly kick against the practice, which apart from being obsolete is completely unnecessary since the cause of the death of a 114-year-old person was clearly due to old age. He said their religious faith also forbade them from taking part in such acts.

Mr Tawiah condemned the tradition, which involved the slaughtering of cattle and other livestock, mostly provided by the youth of the bereaved family, saying, it impeded the economic and financial advancement of the youth.

He, however, pledged the readiness of the five brothers to contribute financially to all other subsequent family programmes and commended Opanin Kojo Bilobi, the family head for his understanding and co-operation.