Okyeame Kwame: Fathers Should Also Have Paternity Leave

Acclaimed best rapper alive, Okyeame Kwame is strongly advocating for fathers to go on leave during and after pregnancy like the mothers have maternity leave because the men suffer too from before pregnancy, during and after child birth.

Newly appointed Spokesperson for the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA), Okyeame Kwame who was speaking on Peace FM’s “Entertainment Review” said this when he was recalling what he is going through as a father especially now that his wife has given birth to a new baby girl. “I think that if employers give mothers some months off to the take care of their babies the same should be done for fathers”.

When Kwasi Aboagye host of the program alerted him that it is done in other countries, Kwame said “then we should also practice it in Ghana because even though the baby was not in my tummy I equally suffered”.

Asked to explain how he suffered and what role he played, Kwame said even though this is his second child, the anxiety and stress he has gone through for the past two weeks before his wife delivered is equal to the pain and the stress the mother goes through.

He said because of the incoming baby he has lost weight and he still fighting malaria. “If a woman is going to give birth it’s a matter of life and death. Some women deliver successfully and after that they suffer from depression, some die and leave their babies during child birth and a lot of other complications after birth. I was very scared because how my wife is very supportive; if there were any complications I will be finished”.

He said when it comes to issues of pregnancy and child birth all people talk about is the mother but the father also play a very key role to do everything possible to make sure both baby and the mother are in good conditions. Excited Okyeame Kwame now father of two, thanked God Almighty, all his fans, family and friends for supporting him and his wife all through and still behind them.

Okyeame’s wife Anika Ohenewa Nsiah Apau delivered a new bouncing baby girl on Tuesday evening September 27, 2011 at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra. Asked how the baby and the mother are doing, rap doctor said they were discharged from the hospital on Wednesday and by the grace of God they are both very strong.

As to what name he is going to give his baby girl, Kwame who has a rather interesting way of naming his kids said because their first born Sir Bota Nsia Apau, was named after his father, his wife also wants the girl to be named after her mother but according him they have both not agreed on it yet.

The “Faithful” hit maker said, if they both agree on naming the baby after his mother-in-law called Antwiwaa, then the baby girl will be called Shanti Antwiwaa Nsia Apau, he disclosed exclusively on Peace FM.