Nairobi News

Tanzanian superstar Diamond Platnumz often referred to as ‘Father Abraham’, for his siring children with multiple women in different countries, is a musician infamous for endless drama and scandals.

The 34-year-old musician once said on a reality show that he is a father of many and has “maybe five or six” children. These are the ones he knows of.

“A couple of months back, my mum told me, she met this lady, I know this lady, and she said she has my kid but then, she doesn’t want to tell me because she is married and her husband thinks the kid is his. My child is 10 years old. Sometimes I have one-night stands which complicate things,” Diamond said on the show that livestreams on Netflix.

Diamond has two children with South Africa-based Ugandan socialite Zari Hassan, a son with Kenyan musician Tanasha Donna and another son with Tanzanian video vixen Hamisa Mobetto.

Also read: Diamond – Why I have no time for Tanzanian music awards

The musician also has a daughter whom he recently reconnected with and the aforementioned daughter with another man’s wife.

Of all these children, it is only Hamisa’s son that he is yet to publicly recognise and celebrate. This has been cause for strife with Hamisa who often laments of how Diamond has ignored their son who was born when Diamond was still together with Zari.

But then, why would Diamond acknowledge and constantly spend time with and splash tons of money on his other children but publicly snub Hamisa’s son? Why would he chose to neither confirm nor deny the child’s paternity?

To understand what could be behind Diamond’s thinking regarding his relationship with Hamisa’s son, Nairobi News delved into whether Diamond’s own paternal issues with his fathers, Mzee Abdul Juma and Mzee Salum Iddi Nyange, has anything to do with his behaviour towards his son with Hamisa.

In several past media interviews, it emerged that Mzee Juma abandoned Diamond and his mother when he was only six years old.

Fast forward to 2000. That was the year Diamond learnt that his biological father was Salum Iddi Nyange and that he had other siblings. This left him conflicted, wondering which of the two families he truly belonged.

In 2004, it was finally clarified to him that Mzee Nyange was his biological father. This was the same year Mzee Nyange passed away. In subsequent  years, Mzee Juma has constantly lamented about being ignored by his son since he became a huge celebrity.

Speaking to Nairobi News, Dr Venus Kyange, a counselling psychologist said Diamond’s paternal background could be the reason for his limited ability to form and maintain a relationship with Hamisa’s son.

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Dr Kyengo based her theory on Diamond’s well-publicised family tree that revealed “certain patterns co-existing such as siring children and not settling down.” The same is evident in Diamond’s love life today.

“If you were abandoned as a child, how are you even able to accept that one that you have sired? If one comes from a family where children were abandoned, it is very easy for that person to abandon their children. Unresolved feelings and issues predispose someone to make such decisions,” Dr Kyengo explained.

Dr Kyengo is of the opinion that Diamond’s complicated paternal background shaped his personality and the way he connects with other people, his children included.

“There are certain personalities that don’t have empathy and don’t really connect well with other people, even those with whom they have blood relationships. Personality plays a part in most these cases because it is the system that operates a person. Therefore, it is very easy for such men to abandon their children,” said Dr Kyengo.

“Another factor could be trauma, especially in regards to the circumstances behind the siring of a child. It could be that certain hurtful words were said or probably the way this man views the partner is not good. There is no respect or regard and it is easy for him to disown her based on how he views her or what she did to him. In this scenario, it is very easy for abandonment to happen, making him step back and not want to be connected to his child with the other women, yet he is okay being identified with her,” Dr Kyengo explained.

But it is still possible that things could get better between Diamond, Hamisa and their son. This, however, can only happen if certain coping mechanisms are undertaken by Diamond to enable him to make better decisions regarding his relationship with his child.

“Acceptance. Just getting into the space of realism and accept that he was abandoned; and decide that his generation should not suffer the same. There is that aspect of ‘I want to move forward and I want to change the story.’ After accepting what happened, he must adjust on how he intend to rework his life to address and deal with the triggering feelings of abandonment. He should then advance and create the life that he wants.”

According to Dr Kyengo, the best coping mechanism would be getting his mental health services and walking with someone who can help him through the situation aside from self-healing.

Also read: Mayonde – I’m back, better than before!

“He should engage mental health services that involve talking and confronting the situation, communicating, where you go and share your space, counselling and mentorship and agreeing to be an ambassador in that place of struggle,” says Dr Kyengo.

She also suggested reading a lot of books in one’s area of struggle could help someone like Diamond reshape his mindset as to the right approaches that need to be embraced when it comes to dealing with his struggles.

To date, Hamisa’s son is yet to meet his siblings mothered by Zari and Tanasha. In March 2024, Zari was quoted by the media saying she was still waiting for Diamond’s confirmation of the paternity of Hamisa’s son so that she would allow her children to interact with him.

“Diamond himself will explain if that child is his or not. For me, I don’t know. If he tells me ‘this is my child and I want him to know the rest (of my children)’, I will welcome him. For now, there’s no formal communication, so I don’t know about it,” she said.