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04.10.2014 Opinion

KESSBEN's Harassment: A Clear Case Of Anti-Asante Agenda

By Kwame Kyeretwie Amponsah
KESSBEN's Harassment: A Clear Case Of Anti-Asante Agenda
04.10.2014 LISTEN

After painstaking investigation that was conducted, it has been revealed that Kwabena Kesse's harassment was a calculated one by anti-Asante vagabonds within the Mahama administration. One would have thought that the reckless political and tribal persecution that was engineered against Asantes during the PNDC era from the '70's through the '90's had stopped, until the arrest and detention of one of Asante's business moguls, Kwabena Kesse (aka Kessben).

Kwabena Kesse, the managing director of KESSBEN Group of Companies, was arrested and detained by the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) for allegedly engaging in money laundering. But at the Cocoa Affairs Court on Wednesday, August 20, 2014, all charges against Kwabena Kesse were dropped by the competent court of jurisdiction. The investigations revealed that it was nothing but a needless harassment of a successful Asante.

However, such action by the BNI under the NDC doesn't come as a surprise. It has been the stock in trade of the NDC since 1981. The proponents of the so-called "Great Ashanti Project" continue unabated to push their sinister agenda to dampen the Asante entrepreneurial spirit by targeting and destroying individual self-made Asante businessmen. Even in these contemporary times, they want to see the back of Asante businessmen and industrious sons. Yes, that is their avowed intent and purpose.

Some few months ago, we witnessed the destruction of the business of Bernard Antwi Boasiako (Chairman Wontumi), the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the NPP. In Rambo style, BNI under some flimsy excuse underpinned by anti-Asante sentiments raided and destroyed the small scale mining company of Boasiko, even when the Minerals Commission of Ghana had proven that the company had a legitimate license to operate in Ghana. In another case, Tobinco Ltd, a pharmaceutical entity owned by Nana Samuel Amo Tobin, became the target of the anti-Asante BNI, and was successfully destroyed and reduced to nothing for allegedly importing certain drugs that they said he did not have the license to import. Investigations conducted into this incident clearly show that the charges were fraudulent and were only calculated and executed to serve the interest of certain individuals in the current NDC government who harbor hatred against Asantes.

Lest we forget, when the NDC came to power, the anti-Asante operatives in the party went after KAAS Pharmacy – owned by another Asante businessman – on the allegation the company was importing unauthorized chemicals, only for the government to apologize after completely disgracing the company and its owner.

Moreover, in retrospect, Akenten Appiah Menka (Apino) had his share of this brute expedition of the (P)NDC. The Apino Company, a successful manufacturer of soaps and detergents, was totally destroyed by these tribal bigots of the (P)NDC. Not only businessmen, but also Asante intellectuals like the late Prof. Akwasi Agyemang and the late Prof. Asenso were hounded out of GIMPA and University of Ghana respectively, by covert and overt tribal persecution of the (P)NDC. The anti-Asante operatives succeeded in tearing their hard-earned reputation apart while pushing them out of their various institutions of engagement. They were some of the finest brains Ghana has ever had, yet, they were treated as nonentities just because of the hatred for Asantes. May their souls rest in perfect peace.

Now, wait a minute. Do you remember Lawyer Effah, who in 1979 was one of the first mattress manufacturers in Ghana? Yes, he was one of Asante's finest. He was wrongfully prosecuted by the PNDC regime, left the country, and only returned to die.

Also to be remembered is Kwabena Darko of Darko Farms, whose enterprise was one of the largest suppliers of poultry products across sub-Saharan Africa. The company has now been reduced to a peasant poultry farm under the five years rule of the Mill-Mahama NDC. They have succeeded in stifling the operations of the company with anti-business regulations. That is how wicked these Asante haters can be!

As if all this was not enough, the tribal bigots in the NDC persecuted the Asante-brained EO Group that made it possible for Ghana to put its name among the league of oil producing nations. The hassle that these Asante entrepreneurs had to go through to get Kosmos Energy to Ghana was overlooked, as their genuine gains from Kosmos apparently became a headache to the anti-Asante propagandists. These Asante-haters spent millions of dollars of the taxpayers' monies to persecute the EO Group with the aim of ridiculing them, but to no avail. And this was even after international investigators had exonerated the EO Group of any wrong doings. This is how silly and myopic the hatred for Asantes is.

The list goes on and on.
But the fact is, how can a nation develop when its illustrious sons are deliberately persecuted on the grounds of envy and hatred? How can the very people who create jobs and immensely contribute to the development of our nation – not only for Asantes but for Ghanaians as a whole – be treated as aliens only because they are Asantes? These are some of the questions that beg serious answers.

We Asantes are increasingly becoming fed-up with the tribal persecution by the NDC. We are aware of the tribal-infused hatred and treatment meted out to Asantes. Well, we could spit 'venom' on Asante-Haters, but, we have decided to remain silent just for the sake of our nation's cohesion and its attendant peace and harmony. However, the clock is ticking! We have watched "The Great Ashanti Project" vigorously pursued by the NDC in recent times, and its lunatic antecedent, the PNDC. They have not been successful and will never be!

KESSBEN's senseless harassment by the NDC coupled with the findings of the investigations, has awakened the sensibilities and fighting spirit of Asantes. It has become abundantly clear that we have to fight our own battle. And fight, we will!

Some of us will continue to prick the conscience of fellow Asantes to the grand schemes that are against us. And Kwabena Kesse's case, which is the latest of its kind, has sparked the fire in us. The fortitude, resilience, tenacity and industrious qualities of our forebears are our guide. And we will not shudder in a second to espouse and defend our three hundred (300) year-old heritage.

Asantes are wide awake and will be in arms against any machination and propaganda of the "Envy, Hatred and Grieving Industry" within the NDC that seeks to tarnish – for no reason – the image of hard-working, industrious, and illustrious sons and daughters of Asanteman. We are sick and tired of all this bull-crap, and henceforth, we will match these haters boot-for-boot.

Krobea Asante Kototo; Wokum apem a, apem beba!
Asanteman nkwaso!!!
Kwame Kyeretwie Amponsah

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