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17.09.2007 General News

MY WIFE HAD GONO

By Daily Guide
MY WIFE HAD GONO
17.09.2007 LISTEN

PC Appiah-Ofori Says

AWARD-WINNING, self-appointed anti-corruption crusader and Member of Parliament (MP) for Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa, Hon. P. C. Ofori-Appiah has accused his wife of 37 years, Mrs. Rebecca Appiah-Ofori of infecting him with gonorrhea, a sexually transmitted disease, and carrying a pregnancy that was not his.

He accused also his wife with whom he has three children: a lawyer, doctor and a pharmacist, of infidelity as a result of which he had to abort a pregnancy for her because he was not responsible for it.

“When I was at Bibiani as a chief accountant, I was detained for accusing the Rawlings government of surrounding itself with thieves.

Those I mentioned as thieves got me locked up in a guardroom. My wife was pregnant when I came out. I aborted the pregnancy for her because I knew I was not responsible for the pregnancy,” he told an Accra-based radio station.

The outspoken MP was reacting to a media report at the weekend which accused him of bigamy, an offence punishable under the law.

According to his wife, Rebecca Appiah-Ofori, nee Brown, she lives in one section of their matrimonial home at Dome, in Accra, while her estranged husband lives with his mistress, whom he parades as Mrs. Appiah-Ofori, in another section of the house.

Justifying his actions, however, the loquacious MP revealed that when he was in Nigeria, his wife, a teacher, visited him and infected him with gonorrhea.

After deciding that 'enough is enough', he informed her parents that he could not marry her anymore.

He said his action received the support of his parents-in-law who urged him to go ahead with the divorce.

“It must be Jesus Christ's younger brother if a man finds his wife with gonorrhea and transmits it to her husband and he goes ahead to marry her.”

He alleged that his wife offered herself to a Methodist priest who was a chaplain at the Asikuma Brakwa Secondary School when the priest was once a guest in their house, after which the priest said, “Ah! Honourable, I have seen what you have been saying all this while”.

He denied that he was married to the mistress who was captioned “Mrs. Appiah-Ofori” in a story carried last weekend, claiming that the woman only cooks for him. “When I came to Ghana, I needed somebody to cook for me,” he said.

Mrs. Appiah-Ofori however countered the claims and said that the MP secretly performed the knocking rites for his mistress.

Denying his wife's claims, the anti-corruption crusader said he had broken all marital links with her for more than 11 years and had accordingly informed her parents and their church.

Quoting extensively from the Constitution, he denied that he was married to her by Ordinance Cap.127, saying their marriage was by custom and therefore he could harbour many more women if he so desired.

The couple's strained relationship came into public domain after the Asikuma-Oboben-Brakwa MP was pictured receiving an award with his live-in mistress, who was erroneously captioned as Mrs Appiah-Ofori.

With the speed of lightning, Rebecca Appiah-Ofori dashed to Daily Graphic, challenging the publication.

Supporting her claims and accusations with documents, Rebecca said “My name is Rebecca Appiah-Ofori (nee Brown), the wife of Hon. P.C. Appiah-Ofori.

I have been married to P.C Appiah-Ofori for 37 years. The woman beside Appiah-Ofori in the picture you published in your paper is not the wife of Hon. Appiah-Ofori because I did not attend the programme,” she said.

Rebecca said her 37-year-old marriage with the MP had been a happy one, blessed with three adult children until things turned sour about 10 years ago.

"When he returned from Nigeria with the woman in
the picture and stealthily went to perform the knocking rites for her, the MP began behaving strangely and started accusing me of infidelity and other untruths," Rebecca recalled.

"It was as if he was under a spell,” she noted.
Following the behaviour of her husband, she said she brought in the Methodist Church family pastor, but to no avail as her husband drove her out of their bedroom into another room in 2001 when he became an MP.

"Soon after, he brought this woman into our home and
for over four years, this woman sleeps at my place in
my house and in the full glare of everyone.

"I am still married to him by the Marriage Ordinance
Cap. 127. Since I realised four years ago that he did
not love me, I have continuously urged him to divorce
me, but he has refused. I still love him, even though
he despises me," she stated.

Mr Appiah-Ofori indicated that he started receiving information about his wife's infidelity a year after their customary marriage in 1970, and claimed that upon complaints and threats to quit the relationship, she pacified him with a ram.

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