I never had fatherly love; I encountered my father three times only – Maurice Ampaw
Renowned lawyer Maurice Ampaw has spoken candidly about his difficult relationship with his late father, Gibson Dokyi Ampaw, who was a lawyer and a former Minister of Health during the Busia administration.
Lawyer Ampaw in an interview on The Delay Show over the weekend revealed that his parents separated only when he was two years old which caused a distant relationship between them.
According to him, he was raised by a single mother after his parents’ separation and later moved with his mother to Sukura in Accra from Laterbiorkorshie.
Although his father was financially taking care of them, Maurice Ampaw said he never had a relationship with him as he met him three times only in his entire life until he passed away.
Maurice Ampaw noted that his father who was a Minister at the time was mostly absent in his life which denied him of fatherly love.
“I didn’t have father love, I never lived with my father. I saw my father three times in my entire life before his death. He was taking care of us, providing financially but he was never present in our lives,” he lamented.
He also recounted how he used to be troublesome and caused problems for his father detailing that his father once threatened to have him arrested by the police.
Maurice recalled the nick name his father gave him, the “bad boy” which was even referred to him in his father’s will.
“He gave birth to 14 children with three women. Out of the 14, I’m the only lawyer. I am the same person he used to call a bad boy, I was very stubborn back then. I was a truant and gave him troubles so he even threatened to have me arrested by the police.
“So even in his will, he referred to me as that bad boy, unfortunately, that bad boy among his children is the only lawyer to take after him,” he stated.
He said despite his troubling character, he was bequeathed an eight-bedroom storey building in Accra by his father.
Lawyer Ampaw further described his father as a radical yet exceptional lawyer who was highly regarded in Akyem Abuakwa and Koforidua because he never lost a case in his 11 years of legal practice.
