The Kumasi High Court is currently examining a surprising claim regarding the nationality of celebrated highlife star Charles Kwadwo Fosu, widely known as Daddy Lumba.
Although the musician was born in Nsuta in the Ashanti Region on September 29, 1964, and spent his early years in Ghana, his citizenship status has become a key part of a legal dispute following his passing.
Lumba, who discovered his talent in the 1980s and later moved to Germany in 1996, built a successful international career before returning to Ghana in his later years. In 2004, he married Akosua Serwaa Fosuh under German civil law in Bornheim.
After his death at Bank Hospital in Accra at age 60, Fosuh filed a suit seeking to be recognised as his lawful surviving spouse, granted the right to perform widowhood rites, and to prevent another woman, Priscilla Ofori (popularly called Odo Broni), from making a similar claim.
During cross-examination, lawyer William Kusi challenged testimony by family head Abusuapanin Kofi Owusu, who said Daddy Lumba was Ghanaian at the time of his death. Kusi insisted that the musician had acquired German nationality and was therefore not Ghanaian.
The court is expected to deliver its ruling on Friday, November 28, 2025, a decision that could shape how the estate and funeral arrangements of the music icon are handled.