A lecturer at the University of Education, Winneba, Benjamin Oduro Arhin Jnr., popularly known as Bnoskka, says the ongoing legal battle among Daddy Lumba’s partners will project the rightful person to benefit from the deceased’s assets, royalties, and intellectual property.
According to him, it is crucial for the world to know the ordained person responsible for the collection of the royalties both at home and abroad.
Speaking in an exclusive interview on the Max Morning Show in Accra on Monday, on the topic “Daddy Lumba’s Funeral and Matters Arising,” Bnoskka, who doubles as the Creative Arts Business and Intellectual Property consultant, said all the battle was to make one of the women gain full control over Lumba’s properties.
”There should be a person who will oversee that for 70 years there is no Copyright infringement on Daddy Lumba’s songs. Also when it comes to the royalties, all the collective society will search for the rightful owner to pay the person and the person to win the case will be the sole person to receive that,” he said.
Bnoskka further stated that the declaration of the court would equally give the widow the right to contest the will should her name get missing from it.
”When we read the will of Lumba and the widow’s name doesn’t appear in the will, it means she has the right to contest the will because traditionally she performed the widowhood rite. Which means she is the recognized person to protect his intellectual property and all his assets and properties, royalties and licensing agreement,” he added.
His comments followed a legal suit presented to the Kumasi High Court by the lawyer of Akosua Serwah Fosuh, the wife of the late musician Charles Kwadwo Fosuh.
In the legal documents, the wife declared that Daddy Lumba renounced his Ghanaian citizenship and was now a citizen of Germany.
”Per the German civil law, particularly the principles of posthumous personal rights and next-of-kin authority, the right to custody, burial decisions, and funeral arrangements of a deceased person belong exclusively to the legal spouse and surviving children, not to the extended family members,” the legal statement read.
Thus, Akosua Serwah wanted the court to grant her complete control over her husband’s corpse.
