Grace Coleman served as Deputy Minister of Finance under John Kufuor
• Grace Coleman served as Deputy Minister under John Kufuor
• She died in 2009 from stress-related illnesses
• Her grandson shared details around what killed her
In the last 24 hours, the story of how a certain Margaret Owusuwaa, believed to be a close relative of a woman who was buried recently, and the events that culminated to the latter’s death has been trending on Twitter.
In the accounts shared by Axel @Mr_Blavo along with photo snippets from a brochure, the name of a former Deputy Minister of Finance under the John Agyekum Kufuor administration, Grace Coleman, pops up, detailing what is also believed to be the circumstances that led to her losing her job, as well as how she died.
The accounts below are those captured in Barbara Coleman’s funeral brochure, under her biography. It also shares some details on how her mother, Grace Coleman, suffered pain before her death.
“When Barbara gave birth to her second child, Michael, her parents decided to look for someone to assist her in taking care of her young children. Her mother’s cousin, Margaret Owusuwaa (aka Ama), was living with her parents in Accra overheard the conversation and requested to take the offer. Her parents reluctantly agreed but later sent Ama to assist Barbara for six months as her visa stipulated.
“A few days to the expiry of her visa, Ama fled Barbara’s family home and reported to the US immigration that Barbara and her late mother [Grace Coleman] has forcefully sent her to the US as a slave to serve Barbara. Barbara was immediately arrested and committed to stand trial. She and her husband Kenneth were accused of conspiring to smuggle Ama Owusuwaa from Ghana to the US to work as an unpaid domestic servant and nanny to their children,” a portion of the biography of Barbara read.
The accounts explained that, following this ordeal, Grace Coleman, who was at the time an appointee of the former president, John Agyekum Kufuor, lost her job, leading to what will become the beginning of stress-related incidences that will kill her later in 2009.
“Grace Coleman, her late mother, was charged for conspiracy to send Ama to America under false pretenses and she was to be extradited to stand trial in the US court. This episode led to Hon. Grace Coleman losing her job as Deputy Minister of Finance in the [New] Patriotic Party (NPP) regime under President J. A. Kufuor in 2003,” it read.
In further accounts on how the Coleman family suffered lies at the hands of Ama, the biography narrated the circumstances under which the court hearing was done, as well as all the efforts they made to exonerate Barbara, her husband and Grace.
“The Coleman family sent seven witnesses from Ghana to the US court to testify that Ama was indeed a family member and she voluntarily offered to help her niece, Barbara, for six months. In court, Ama told all kinds of lies.
“Barbara was convicted of forced labour, harbouring an illegal alien for financial gain and hiding the passport of Ama Owusuwaa. In the end, she was sentenced to prison for five years and three months. Kenny was also convicted to conspiracy and harbouring an illegal alien for financial gain and sentenced to six months of home detention and three years probation. Ama Owusuwaa has since been rewarded with residency permit,” the biography read.
Other details of how the family had to deal with embarrassment are captured in the narration below.
“In prison, Barbara encountered many problems. She developed all sorts of ailments including diabetes, high blood pressure and a recurrent brain tumor. She had to undergo two craniotomies (a form of open head surgery) to remove the brain tumor.
“She served all the sixty-three months in prison and was deported to Ghana thereafter in 2008. These events are what eventually caused the death of her mother, Grace Coleman in 2009. Her husband, Kenny, also passed on in 2018,” the biography said.
We buried an auntie of mine on Friday and I’m just glad her suffering is finally over. Her life played out like the most unfortunate kumawood movie.
This life can be so crazy pic.twitter.com/0rYsxEdUA4
— Axel (@Mr_Blavo) September 12, 2021
The tweep, who claims to be a grandson of Grace Coleman, provided updates on what happened to this Ama Owusuwaa and her family thereafter.
“To make matters worse Ama Owusua told US officials that since my grand auntie was a minister in the then NPP government, her husband and kids were in danger of persecution. Lawyers came to Ghana and took her husband and kids to the US for “political asylum.”
“But Ama and her family got their karma. She and her husband are now both blind and she had a stroke that has left her paralyzed and bedridden in the states. At least there’s something like cosmic justice,” he wrote.
See the rest of the accounts below:
