“Kantanka Is Gone! ‘Star of Africa’ Apostle Kwadwo Safo Dies at 77”

“Kantanka Is Gone! ‘Star of Africa’ Apostle Kwadwo Safo Dies at 77”

Ghana has lost a giant! Apostle Kwadwo Safo, the maverick preacher, inventor, and founder of the Kristo Asafo Church and Kantanka Group, has died at age 77.

The man celebrated as “The Star of Africa” took his final bow on Thursday, September 11, 2025, with his daughter, Hon. Sarah Adwoa Safo, confirming the sad news in a statement Sunday morning.

Born in Bekwai in 1948, Apostle Safo was no ordinary man. From welder to wizard of science, from prayer warrior to engineer-extraordinaire, he rewrote the story of Ghanaian innovation. In 1969, he started the Kristo Asafo Mission as a prayer group, and by the 1990s, he had stunned the world with his audacious dream — cars designed and built in Ghana.

The Kantanka Omama SUV, the Onantefo pickup, and even locally-crafted electronics and agricultural machines all bore his bold signature. To his admirers, he was a prophet, an engineer, a savior of local industry; to skeptics, a mystery man who dared to challenge the West.

In their statement, the Safo family mourned “a true genius, beacon of hope, father to the fatherless, and a legend whose courage and resilience inspired millions.”

For many, his death is not just the passing of a man but the fall of an institution, a dreamer who turned fantasy into factories and gave Ghana its own car brand.

Funeral details are expected in the coming days.