Ghana: Family And Friends Rejects ‘Resurrected’ Man

A 35-year-old man who was wrongly pronounced dead in the mining town of Ayanfuri, near Dunkwa in the Central region seems to have been rejected by the family on his return home. Mr. Kwabenea Opoku, a native of Nkukua Buoho in the Afigya Kwabre District of the Ashanti Region, is battling to be accepted back by his family, who find it hard to come to terms with the news of his death and sudden resurfacing after his final funeral rites had been performed.
The one week observation of Opoku, who is currently jobless besides the divorce by his spouse, was slated for October 29, 2015, at Kookoase in Nkukua Buoho. Explaining the incident on GH RADIO ONE, a Kumasi based online radio station, Mr. Kwame Nsiah, a brother of Kwabena Opoku explained that sometime in October last year, he had a call from his brother's phone and the caller told him that his brother and two others have been poisoned, after eating a meal which put them in critical condition at the Dunkwa Government Hospital.

 He revealed that he was told that two of them were operated on but Opoku could not survive because treatment was delayed following the delay of the family in responding to the distress call. The message also had it that the body of Opoku had been sent to the morgue at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) via an ambulance. Mr. Nsiah, said the following day the family converged at KATH and combed the entire facility but could not trace the mortal remains of Opoku.

Meanwhile, a graphic designer had been contracted to design a poster with Opoku's picture for the one week observation on October 29, 2015. A family delegation led by Opoku's uncle was sent to Ayanfuri to verify the death of Opoku at his workplace with a copy of the one week poster to enquire about Opoku's whereabouts. On arrival at Ayanfuri, the delegation was directed to the mining site where he works

When the delegation announced their mission to the security officer at post he expressed shock to learn that Kwabena Poku, who was busily at work could be pronounced dead. The delegation was shocked to the bones when Opoku resurfaced after working hours. People who got word of his death thronged to Nkukua Buoho for the one week observation only to learn that Opoku was not dead after all. Opoku is now torn between returning to his hometown and continue working at his workplace both with difficulty.

 “Everyone in Ayanfuri thinks he is dead so they regard him as ghost ,which has demoralised him so much that he has been sacked from work” , Auntie Akosua Achia, the mother of Kwabena Opoku disclosed. She also disclosed that Opoku's wife with two kids has divorced him. Opoku's mother said embattled Opoku has been taken to a man of God for deliverance from the trauma of the news of his death and his rejection by society.

 Explaining the incident on Kumasi-based GH RADIO ONE station, Kwabena Opoku has also pleaded with the general public to disregard the news of his death because he is alive and kicking. He explained that on Thursday 21, 2015, his handset was stolen from a galamsey mining site by an unknown person at Ayanfuri in the Western Region, which he could not trace. He continued that a week later, the person who stole the phone died so good Samaritan called his brother, Kofi Nsiah and broke the news to him that the owner (thief( had died from food poisoning.

 He said while he was planning to get himself a new phone the delegation from his home town arrived at his work place to announce news of his death. “I was terrified and down when my father and the rest of the family told me I am dead”, he said. Opoku is traumatized so much by the loss of job and wife as a result of false alarm and is pleading with the public to see him as one of them and accept him back.