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Maryland attorney Lawranda Owens balances legal career with role as Ghanaian fetish priestess
via GhanaWeb3 min read
Lawranda Owens, a Maryland-based attorney who has spent 30 years representing children with disabilities, also serves as a fully initiated Ghanaian fetish priestess, known by her shrine name Nana Ofua Serwaa or Okomfuor Serwaa. In an interview with Ghanaian blogger Zionfelix, Owens revealed that an African DNA test initiated a five-year spiritual journey, leading her from America to a village in Koforidua, Ghana, and her transformation into an Okomfuor with 18 years of practice. Owens, who was born in America, discovered her mother's heritage is from Nigeria's Yoruba tribe and her father's from Ghana. She explained that she had spiritual gifts from childhood, including seeing spirits, traveling in the spirit realm, and relaying messages from ancestors. Her training involved learning in America and trips to Ghana, including a week in her original village in Koforidua, where she learned the language, culture, taboos, and how to hone her gifts. Balancing her legal profession with her role as a fetish priestess has presented challenges, such as strict initiation requirements that necessitated changes to her professional image, including cutting her hair and wearing African clothes. Okomfuor Serwaa also disputes the belief that shrines cannot travel across water, noting that many spirit realms were brought to America by Africans during the slave trade. She educates both Ghanaians who doubt her authenticity and Americans who do not understand her practice, stating that she receives
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This summary was AI-generated from a story originally published by GhanaWeb.
A rare photograph showing former Head of State General Ignatius Kutu Acheampong and Major General Edward Kwaku Utuka moments before their execution has resurfaced. The image, shared by Adeyinka Makinde, depicts the two military officers hooded and tied to execution stakes at the Teshie Military Shooting Range in Accra, awaiting a firing squad. Acheampong and Utuka were executed on June 16, 1979, after being sentenced to death by decree of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council AFRC. The AFRC had seized power 12 days prior through an uprising led by junior officers and soldiers in the Ghana Armed Forces. General Acheampong, born in 1931, joined the British colonial army in 1951 and was commissioned into the Ghana Army in 1959. He served with the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Congo and became Chairman of the Western Regional Committee of Administration after the overthrow of Dr Kwame Nkrumah's government. Acheampong led the January 13, 1972 coup that removed Dr Kofi Abrefa Busia's government, establishing the National Redemption Council NRC, which suspended the 1969 Constitution and banned political activities. His rule ended in 1979 when the AFRC overthrew the Supreme Military Council government, leading to his trial and execution alongside Major General Utuka. The resurfaced photograph is noted as one of the few known images documenting their final moments.
BreakingThe US launched air strikes against Iran's coastal surveillance and air defense facilities, as well as its Revolutionary Guards IRGC, following an attack that killed two US troops in Jordan. US Central Command Centcom stated these strikes aimed to degrade Iran's ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and punish those responsible for the Jordan attack. In response, Iran's army reportedly carried out drone attacks on two US bases in Kuwait. This exchange of strikes marks an escalation in hostilities between the two nations, which had seen a preliminary ceasefire collapse. The US death toll in the conflict has now risen to 16.
Mustapha Gbande, Deputy General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress NDC, has stated that Koku Anyidoho, former Deputy General Secretary of the party, is no longer an NDC member. Gbande made this declaration on Eyewitness News on Thursday, July 16, 2026, explaining that Anyidoho ceased to be a member because he no longer holds membership. This statement followed Anyidoho's recent claim of still being an NDC member despite his dismissal. Gbande further alleged that Anyidoho is now a consultant, specifically a "spiritual consultant," for the New Patriotic Party's 2024 presidential candidate, former Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia. When asked for evidence, Gbande maintained his assertion without providing proof. He also questioned Anyidoho's authority to comment on the NDC's internal elections, arguing that as a non-member, Anyidoho cannot dictate party election procedures.