I Had Affair With Sister-In-Law - Bagbin

The Minority Leader in Parliament, Hon. Alban Sumanu Kingsford Bagbin, has finally confessed to having had a sexual relationship with his wife's 17 year old sister but added that it is an acceptable traditional practice.

The admission comes in the wake of a news report in the Weekend Crusading Guide published last Friday September 17, 2004. Hon Bagbin who is also the Member of Parliament for Nadowli North, made the reaction through CITI radio, an Accra FM station.

He explained that the report was a reference to him even though it fell short of mentioning his name. The way the story was couched, he intimated that he knew they were referring to him.

“I know what the paper is talking about. I had a relationship with my sister-in-law as far back as 1989 when we had a problem in our marriage” he confessed. According to the Weekend Crusading Guide, Mr. Bagbin took advantage of the girl while she was staying with them and the resultant amorous relationship, made the girl pregnant.

The following is part of the story as it appeared in the Crusading Guide “The story is that this supposed MP whose name has been withheld for now has impregnated the younger sister of his wife who was staying with them (MP and wife) in the same house.

“Family sources told the Weekend Crusading Guide that the MP madly steeped in the affair has hired (rented) a place for the sister-in-law and has continued inflicting the abominable on the young undiscerning lass in whom the significance of what is happening is lost” the paper stated.

However, Mr Bagbin said to be Catholic, and who appeared rattled by the publication, maintained that there was nothing inappropriate about the relationship, adding that the affair was an open secret. He added that in Dagari custom, when there is a problem between a husband and wife, the family comes in.

“In our custom, the family usually intervenes and discusses and you are permitted to marry your sister-in-law. “And therefore this was something discussed by both families and I was given the go-ahead with the support of my wife to marry the sister-in-law,” he explained.