Looming family crisis - Court restrains Mrs Adu Boahen

Sick and bedridden, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Presidential candidate in the 1992 general elections, Professor Albert Adu-Boahen, has much more squabbles in his house that could cause him psychological trauma than his current ailment, as his five children from previous marriage jointly dragged the famous historian’s wife to court.

The writ, which was filed jointly by the professor’s children at an Accra High Court and heard on Monday, this week, prayed the court to issue an interim order restraining the wife, Mrs Mary Adu-Boahen, from preventing the children from visiting their sick father of 69 years.

The presiding judge, Justice J.K. Ebiasah, after carefully studying the docket, issued the interim order restraining Mrs Mary Adu-Boahen from barring her stepchildren from seeing their father who, according to Kweku Adu_Boahen, a son of the eminent historian, has been sick for sometime now.

The plaintiffs were represented in court by Kweku Adu-Boahen, who is domiciled in the United States of America and had the unfortunate task of being prevented from seeing the sick dad by his stepmother even though he had travelled to Ghana with the sole aim of seeing him.

After proceedings in court on Tuesday, Kweku, who filed the suit on his behalf and that of his four other siblings, who are also domiciled abroad, was full of praise for the rule of law, saying he was happy he could at long last visit the dad without much headache. Asked by the Chronicle why he thinks the stepmother would not allow any of them access to their own father, who is sick and stuck to bed, he said only the stepmother could tell because none of them begrudges her.

Continuing, he said he stays in the United State, together with another sibling, while two others live in London and the last person making a living in South Africa, but he stressed, “whenever we call home to speak to our father on telephone, our stepmother would not let us talk to him.”

He added that because of their inability to converse with their dad on phone, it was decided that he should come to Ghana to sort things out. He said he arrived in Ghana from the United States on February 13, this year and was fortunate to have access to his father on three occasions, adding, “but anytime I go there the wife wants to be present before we communicate.”

Kweku Adu-Boahen said on the fourth occasion that he went to the father’s residence, the stepmother was not at home, so he was able to converse with the father alone devoid of intimidation, but unfortunately for him, that was when his woes started. He said when her stepmother returned and got to know that he (Kweku) was with the old man in her absence, his troubles of contacting his father re-emerged as Mrs Mary Adu-Boahen has since refused him access to the father. “At the moment, my father is sick and can’t do anything, but she won’t let us see him,” Kweku said, worried.