Abigail Mawutor Rawlings
A 52-year-old woman calling herself Abigail Mawutor Rawlings is making sensational claims that she is a daughter of the late former President, Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings, whose funeral is currently ongoing.
Officially, the former President is known to have three daughters and a son, all through former First lady Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings, but the latest claims by the lady has sparked heated debate.
She said on ‘SVTV Africa’ at the ongoing funeral rites of Mr. Rawlings that her mother, now deceased, was a Togolese by name Rose Agbodzi Senge.
She admitted that it was possible the widow, the former First Lady, was not aware that she (claimant) is Mr. Rawlings’ daughter but claimed that the Abgotui Family in Dzelukope in the Volta Region where Mr. Rawlings’ mother, Victoria, belonged, knew about her story.
She said she got to know about her real father in 2002, when Mr. Rawlings had served 19 years as the leader of Ghana and was on retirement, and said she had since been using the name Rawlings but could not tell her real name before the name change.
“He is my father. He gave birth to me,” she claimed, adding “I have been in the family but I don’t know why they are refusing to accept that I am his daughter.
“I made every effort to get a paternity test done and Dr. Agumenu, Dr. Djokoto and Dr. Zegede and others who know about this case worked so hard to get the issues settled but to no avail until his sudden demise,” she said.
She claimed that “he heard about me. He knew everything. Dr. Senanu Agumenu even brought money to the village and said my father (Rawlings) asked him to give it to me. I live in Accra but they called me to come to the village in Dzelukope. He had sent the money through Dr. Agumenu to be given to Mr. Tenge and forwarded to me,” adding that “they asked me to use the money to start some business.”
“They all know me in the house (Agbotui Family) but my siblings (Mrs. Rawlings’ children) maybe do not know that I am one of them. The issue is that when I want to get closer they don’t want to grant me access,” she claimed, adding, “Since his demise, I have tried to go to my father’s house several times but I am always denied access but I don’t want to cause any trouble.”
She said her mother “told me everything there is about my father before she died. She told me about how they met when my father was a young soldier.”
She said she started approaching the family some 20 years ago,” adding, “This is not the first time. I am not defaming him. I tried all I could to get close to him but I was not successful.”
She said that “I got to know that he was my father in 2002. That was when my mother told me about it,” saying, “Before my mother revealed it to me, I was seeing him (Mr. Rawlings) in my dreams so I asked my mother and she told me everything.”
“My mother said my father was in school and when she became pregnant, he (Rawlings) begged her (my mother) not to reveal the identity of the person that impregnated her otherwise the family will not sponsor his education,” she added.
She said that she did not stay with her mother but said she was given to an old lady at the Adabraka Market, Accra, to look after her, adding that “When I grew up I got to know that I did not have a father and some people used to mock me because of that.”
She also claimed that Maame Dokono knew about the issue, explaining “I went to her house in 2003 and she advised me that it was a serious case and that I should take some money and leave town. So she gave me some cash to leave. I left Ghana to stay in Togo for some time and returned to Ghana later on.”
She said that while in Togo she was moving to Dzelukope to look for her father’s family, adding, “They accepted me so I was frequenting the place. They never doubted me.”
She even claimed that “I was at the Agbotui House in Dzelukope for one week when my father’s mother died.”
“I don’t know if Mrs. Rawlings has heard about me. We have never met in person. They tried to take me to the Rawlings’ directly when the body of Rawlings’ mother was laid in state and I told them it should have been done earlier. I told them to wait when the funeral was over.
“Mrs. Rawlings was sitting there but I don’t think she understood what was going on. It is the family that must be blamed for not coming out. I can’t stand in front of the camera and tell lies to the whole world. I want to get close to my siblings,” she said.
She said she was born in March 1968 but was no longer married although she said “I have three children but the first one is deceased.”