The late Mac Tontoh of Osibisa fame may be resting in peace but his property is almost in pieces, as disagreements deepen on whether or not he was the actual father of an 11-year-old boy (name withheld for now.)
The News-One newspaper has gathered that Mac Tontoh’s former wife, Ama Serwah, believed to be about 63 years old, is claiming that the late musician is the father of the young boy, thus he is entitled to a share of his property.
Mac’s family on the other hand is alleging that the late musician has nothing to do with the boy because he was adopted by Ama Serwah without the consent of Mac Tontoh. According to Mac Tontoh’s family, he has only two children and they are adults currently living outside Ghana. New-One’s checks showed that one of the said two children is Frank Tontoh, a seasoned drummer in the UK.
New-One can also report that the misunderstanding over the father of this 11 year old boy has led to a couple of fights and blows in the home of the late musician.“The whole family is aware that Mac did not father the boy; he was adopted by the woman but even that Mac did not sign the adoption documents. What people do not even know is that the boy was adopted from a hospital located in the Airport Residential Area and not from the Department of Social Welfare.
“We do not have any problem with the boy, he is a very respectful boy and we love him but that does not make him Mac’s son and this is something no one can dispute,” a family source told News-One. Reports also say Mac Tontoh died a bachelor and that he divorced Ama Serwah long before his death.
In September 2008, British papers reported that Mac Tontoh’s wife, then called Mary Tontoh, had been arrested and slapped with a two-and-a-half-year jail term in the UK for smuggling an unpaid servant into Wembley and forcing her to sleep in a cupboard. She was said to have lured her victim, 20-year-old Elizabeth Adone from Ghana with promises of a well paid job and education but ended up forcing her to work as a domestic servant for two years without wages.
The case was heard at the Harrow Crown Court and Elizabeth said Mac’s wife forced her to live in a tiny cupboard while her boss denied her any wages, claiming it had to be spent on household bills or ‘repayment’ for her air fare to London.
Miss Adona said: “I had a mattress in there and some of my things there. I could sleep but I had to fold my legs.” Relatives of the 21 year old became concerned when they had not heard from her since she arrived in the UK.
During the trial, Miss Adona said she was eventually encouraged by friends to go to the police herself. The Metropolitan Police Human Trafficking Team was alerted and arrested Tontoh’s wife. Officers later found the mattress still in the meter cupboard with Miss Adona’s belongings.
A search of Tontoh’s two-bedroom home revealed a counterfeit Nigerian passport with a false name containing a photograph of the 21 year old and a number of other documents in the false name.
