Highlife musician cum Pastor, Ofori Amponsah has lashed out at a section of the public who enjoy the luxury of condemning public personalities while they are alive but turn the narrative around when they are deceased.
According to him, love must stand as the pillar to strengthen celebrities to go beyond their boundaries in place of the negative comments paraded on several social media platforms.
His comment comes on the back of the untimely death of Ghanaian Dancehall artiste Priscilla Opoku Kwarteng also known as Ebony who died in a gruesome motor accident last week Thursday on the Kumasi-Sunyani highway.
Since the news of her demise broke, the debate on disrespecting, hating and rebuking of celebrities across the country has heavily been put in motion to address the disregard and unsupportive attitude some music lovers and stakeholders in the entertainment industry exhibit towards Ghanaian celebrities.
Ebony for one courted a lot of controversy with her actions and inactions. Her dressing and stage performances especially was a sore point for critics, and some watchers of the music industry in Ghana.
In her absence, it seems most people who took turns to chastise the budding star for her fun, free and bubbly lifestyle have swallowed their words in time of her mourning to pay tribute to her and sympathize with the bereaved family.
However, Ofori Aponsah who was present at the one-week celebration of sensational Dancehall, Ebony who died on the night of Thursday February, 8 in his reaction to the perceived “pull him down” phenomenon campaigned for fans and followers to show love instead of castigating and parading hypocrisy.
Fondly called “Pastor Alewa”, the musician turned pastor who has come under several attacks for living a dual life said he is no longer bothered about what men say about him anymore.
To him, there is no grey line between his character as a musician or a preacher, stating that his ministry as a man of God is to preach love through music.
“My ministry is to sing, my ministry is to tell people love, to tell people that life is short. We need to do what we’ve got to do, he said. It’s not about preaching. Love thy neighbor as yourself. We should love. I don’t have to die before people celebrate me,” he bemoaned.
“That is my ministry, my ministry is to talk about love. Celebrate me when I am alive,” he said.
Outspoken Ghanaian TV and Radio personality, Valentina Nana Agyeiwaa known in showbiz as Afia Schwarzenegger has also shared her displeasure towards the comments and controversies that has reared its head since the passing of Ebony.
Prior to the One-Week celebration of the sensational Dancehall musician, Afia Schwarzenegger in the company of Belinda Nana Ekua Amoah also known as Mzbel thronged the residence of the late dancehall artiste’s father in Dansoman to spit venom on renowned marriage counsellor and pastor, Reverend George Lutterodt over his infamous remarks he has frivolously been making about the lifestyle of the late musician.
The comedienne did not mince words when she was addressing Ebony’s father, Mr. Nana Opoku Kwarteng along the lines of the developments which she describes as distasteful and worrisome.
While protesting for the nonsense to stop, Afia fumed that she finds it absurd that even after the demise of the fun, bubbly and free-spirited musician her name cannot be put to rest notwithstanding the grief that has befallen the Kwarteng family and the country at large.
The dejected showbiz personality is, therefore, calling for the head of Counsellor Lutterodt for an action to be taken against him and the prophets who allegedly prophesied Ebony’s death.
Ebony died at the Bechem Government Hospital a vehicle she was travelling in was involved in an accident.
Her friend, Franky Kuri, and a Military Man, Atsu Vondee, who is said to be her bodyguard on board a Jeep from Sunyani also died in the head-on collision with a VIP bus heading towards Sunyani from Kumasi on Thursday, February 8.
Ebony will be buried on March 17, 2018, the family has announced at a memorial service which took place on Sunday at Dansoman in Accra.
The family has also disclosed that her funeral would be held in Accra even though the announcement has not specified a venue yet.
