Mr. P.V. Obeng, the man who in the eighties was more or less the Prime Minister of Ghana, represents different things to different people. His erudition, and affability during his tenure very much helped to give the regime a voice that could at least be listened to. Later, in the dying years of the PNDC and early days of NDC, there was a falling out with his boss, Flt. Lt. Rawlings. He left the PNDC but still remained with the NDC. He has neither renounced the PNDC nor has he "resigned" from the NDC. Recently, his star has been on the ascendancy, having been given the prestigious Chairmanships of Asante Kotoko and the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC). Does he deserve these honours? Alex Asabre of the erstwhile Ghana Democratic Movement in the UK thinks he does not and sent The Accra Daily Mail the following article.

We the members of erstwhile Ghana Democratic Movement in the UK reject the appointment of PV Obeng as the Chairman of Kumasi Asante Kotoko Football Club.

The reasons why we reject PV Obeng's appointment as Chairman of Kumasi Asante Kotoko are as follows:

During his time of office for fifteen years as the PNDC Co-ordinating Secretary, in effect the Prime Minister, he did not contribute anything to assist the Ashantis in bringing investments to the region. The only thing he did was to sit down and allow the Ashantis to be beaten, molested or tortured. He only sat down while Ashanti women were beaten in public thereby resulting in the collapse of most Ashanti businesses. PV Obeng helped Rawlings and his NDC cronies to molest Ashantis just because Ashantis were non-supporters of Rawlings' PNDC/NDC government. Lastly was he able to advise his boss, J.J. Rawlings, to refrain from all these activities?

Why is it that he now wants to be the Chairman of Kumasi Asante Kotoko when in the past he helped the PNDC/NDC to deprive industrialists like B.A. Mensah, Appia-Menka and other Ashantis of their businesses? Rawlings went further to ruthlessly condemn Appia-Menka's products as inferior and not to be patronised by Ghanaians.

We would now like to tell PV the history of Ashantis as a tribe that criticises governments that do not perform well enough for the nation. This is what the Ashantis have been doing since Ghana's independence.

During the CPP regime the Ashantis had a leader within the CPP regime in the 60's called Krobo Edusei who was championing the cause of the Ashantis by bringing investment into the Ashanti Region, one of the regions that earns foreign exchange for the country.

For example Krobo Edusei was able to convince Kwame Nkrumah's government to bring major projects like Okomfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Jute Factory, Shoe Factory and many other investments across the region.

Another leader who contributed immensely for the region was the former head of state I.K. Acheampong who improved City Hotel and extended the Kumasi Sports Stadium into international standards. Finally, as an Ashanti, Krobo Edusei was able to give information to Ashantis and other Akans to take precautionary measures when they were under threat by the system of which he was a leading member Unfortunately P.V. Obeng was not able to do any of these things. Now that we are in a proper democracy led by His Excellency J.A. Kufour he is being ennobled with all sorts of appointments.

We therefore question his appointment as Chairman of Kumasi Asante Kotoko the same way we question his appointment as Chairman of the Ghana Investment Promotion Center as was recently announced by the government. The reason why we question these appointments is that P.V. Obeng's role in the coming into being of the PNDC and its sustenance, has not yet been explained to Ghanaians.

The government should therefore rethink and terminate his appointment with immediate effect.

Though we welcome the all-inclusive governance as suggested by President Kufuor, we still categorically cannot encourage the appointment of those with questionable or dubious baggages who have only succeeded in causing the collapse of Ghana's economy.

Alex Asabre

Chairman of erstwhile Ghana Democratic Movement