A Kumasi High Court has been told the late popular highlife musician, Charles Kwadwo Fosuh, known in showbiz as Daddy Lumba, fathered 17 children out of wedlock.
Akosua Serwaa Fosuh is in court seeking an order to make her the only surviving wife and also the sole performer of widowhood rites at the late musician’s funeral.
She also wants the court to order another woman, Priscilla Ofori, also known as Odo Broni, to stop holding herself out as the wife of the late musician.
During the cross-examination of Abusuapanin Kofi Owusu, head of the Parkoso Ekuona family, the extended matrilineal family of the late Daddy Lumba, a letter purportedly written at Serwaa Fosuh’s instruction was read in English and later translated into Twi for the witness.
The letter is one of 11 pieces of evidence filed along with the witness statement of Abusuapanin Kofi Owusu.
Though the authenticity of the letter is being challenged by Serwaa Fosuh, who insists she never authorised any such correspondence, Abusuapanin Kofi Owusu believes it is authentic.
Dated February 4, 2018, at Mercer and Company, the letter, addressed to the late Daddy Lumba, also had Akosua copied.
It stated that the late Daddy Lumba had known Akosua Serwaa Fosuh as his wife for the past 34 years, as their union was blessed with three children.
According to the letter, even though the late musician knew bigamy was a crime, he deserted his matrimonial home for five years to marry another woman whom he held out in public and on social media platforms as his wife. It also alleged the late musician gave birth to 17 children out of wedlock with numerous mistresses and concubines, some of whom were allegedly close associates of Serwaa.
It also described the late musician as wanton, carefree, a cheat, and abusive in nature, as the deceased allegedly, on countless times, physically and psychologically abused the plaintiff, who has many marks on her body and an almost deformed lip to confirm the abusive nature of the late highlife musician.
It added, “In the name of love and for the sake of the children, the plaintiff kept the inhumane treatment she suffered at the hands of the deceased.” This, according to the letter, is because of the violent and abusive nature of the late musician.
According to the lawyer for the plaintiff, the plaintiff proposed to the late musician to formally apply for marriage within 10 days upon receipt of the letter and grant custody.
Lawyer William Kusi, counsel for Akosua Serwaa Fosuh, sought to understand from Abusuapanin Kofi Owusu if he was given a copy of the letter, but the latter answered in the negative.
He told the court he was shown a copy at a family meeting.
But Abusuapanin Owusu will not agree to suggestions by plaintiff counsel that the letter was manufactured.
He could also not tell the court whether the plaintiff took action against the musician after 10 days, as stated in the letter.
Also, Abusuapanin Owusu, in a response to a question by plaintiff’s counsel about where he was living when Daddy Lumba relocated to Ghana, said he is older than the late musician.
According to him, since he worked with AGC from 1976 all the time till he retired in 1999, he didn’t know.
Responding to questions as to whether Daddy Lumba attended Akosua Serwaa’s mum’s funeral, the witness said Lumba did not attend, and that, though he did not attend, it was the late musician’s siblings who told him.
When plaintiff counsel probed further whether Ernestina Fosuh was among those who told him Daddy Lumba did not attend the funeral, he said it was the younger sister, Faustina Fosuh, who told him.
When counsel suggested to him that Brempomaah, the eldest sister of Daddy Lumba, who, under oath, testified before the court emphatically that she attended the funeral, Abusuapanin responded that he would not know if she went to the funeral with the deceased.
Abusuapanin Owusu will not agree to the plaintiff lawyer’s suggestion that he was an untruthful witness and that everything he has told the court was an account of somebody.
Quizzed further on details of the contested letter as to whether there has been a property settlement between Daddy Lumba and the plaintiff, he said he did not know.
However, Abusuapanin Kofi Owusu said he accepted it, so when counsel for the plaintiff put it to him that the contested letter did not come from Akosua Serwaa Fosuh’s lawyers.
His response did not go down well with his counsel, who raised concerns about how the question was interpreted to his client.
But the plaintiff counsel insisted the witness’s response should stand.
When cross-examination resumed, Abusuapanin Kofi Owusu responded in the affirmative to a question by plaintiff’s counsel that the witness in his witness statement stated that Daddy Lumba resorted to a third party to speak to his children in Germany.
According to him, though he was not in Germany, it was Daddy Lumba himself who said it.
Hearing resumes on Monday, November 24, 2025.