John Kumah’s widow erred traditionally by speaking publicly – Krontihene of the Sunyani traditional area

The widow, Apostle Lilian Kumah began granting media interviews barely 48 hours after her husband’s death was announced.

She has strongly debunked rumours that her husband died after after he was poisoned as has been alleged by media personality Captain Smart which has since gone viral.

According the widow who has officially lodged a complaint with the Police for the arrest of Captain Smart to prove the allegation, her husband died after he battled with a serious illness for over a year.

Some Ghanaians have criticised the widow of the former Member of Parliament for Ejisu for talking too much when she should be quiet and mourning her husband as tradition demands.

Commenting on the issue in an interview with Kasapa News, Nana Bofotia Boamponsem agreed with those who disaprove of the widow’s public speaking as that flouts traditional practice

”Traditionally, it is not the widow who communicates issues about the death her husband. Traditionally when a woman is in the room with her husband and he dies or they are both abroad and the man dies, what the woman must do is to communicate the death to her parents, then they will inturn inform the family of the man in private, after that the widow ceases to talk about her husband’s death. Nobody has the right to ask the widow about the circumstances leading to her husband’s death and she is not also allowed to explain the circumstance to anyone. It is the responsibility of her husband’s family to speak to matters about the death.”

Asked if it was wrong for the widow to have clarified or debunked rumours about her husband’s death, Nana Bofotia Boaposem insisted yes, adding that, that is not acceptable traditionally.

‘What the widow should have said was that, for me, I don’t know that my husband was poisoned. Let’s wait until the post-mortem is done for the cause of death to be communicated to my husband’s family. They will then make the cause of death public if the wish so to make. I say so because the widow is not a family member of her husband, if she was, she wouldn’t have been his wife. Such matters are communicated by the husband’s family,” Nana Bofotia Boaposem added.

The former Deputy Finance Minister died last Thursday at Suhum while he was being transported in an ambulance to Accra for a trip abroad for treatment.