Sports News of Friday, 1 June 2018

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

Dan Kweku Yeboah reveals why Kofi Asare Brako 'Abatay' left Peace FM

Head of Sports at Peace FM, Dan Kweku Yeboah play videoHead of Sports at Peace FM, Dan Kweku Yeboah

Ace Sports Broadcaster and owner/editor of the Ghana Sports newspaper, Dan Kweku Yeboah has dispelled claims that he sabotaged his former boss, Kofi Asare Brako popularly known as Abatay when the two worked at Peace FM.

Abatay’s exit from Peace FM in 2008 was attributed to a myriad of reasons with some suggesting that the move was necessitated by a frosty relationship between him (Abatay) and his then apprentice Dan Kweku Yeboah.

Dan Kweku Yeboah has been accused of snitching on his former boss and undermining his works, a situation that made Abatay unhappy hence the decision to part ways with Peace FM about a decade ago.

But in an exclusive interview with GhanaWeb TV, the ace sports journalist while denying the allegations, lifted the lid on why Kofi Asare Brako took a decision to quit Peace FM.

He explained that a misunderstanding ensued between Abatay, who was then the Sports editor at Peace FM and some personalities at Peace FM over how the station was going to cover the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations hosted in Ghana and that culminated in his exit from the station.

“He (Abatay) was my boss and we had a very cordial relationship but the moment he left, there were series of allegations, none of them was true. Some said he embezzled money, some said he was sacked, some said I undermined him, a lot things were said but none of them was true”.

“The bottom line was that ahead of the CAN 2008 tournament, Rex Danquah and co decided to form a consortium and then centralized the commentary so that every radio station who wanted to pick the feed, will pay to the LOC at the time. Abatay, Osei Assibey, Odeneho and couple of sports journalists were selected to run commentary so that other radio stations will pay to the LOC and pick from them”.

“Peace FM said no, we want to pay and run the commentary ourselves. Unfortunately for Abatay because they had finished everything and agreed on how much to pay them. I think they were going to be paid in dollars and the money was good so Abatay preferred running it for the LOC. While Peace FM was trying to negotiate for its right to run the commentary on its own, somebody from the LOC was feeding my boss, Father Dickson with information that Abatay was trying to sabotage the effort of Peace FM because they had promised to give them money if they were to use the centralized format so my boss was unhappy”.

“So my boss told him that because he didn’t help Peace FM to get the commentary he was not going to run commentary. So Abatay decided to do his own thing. Few days into the tournament my boss decided to let things go. Apparently the day my boss told him he was not going to run commentary, he was peeved so he decided to write a resignation letter so when he (Father Dickson) met us again and said Abatay now I have let things to go, Abatay submitted his resignation letter”.

“It took my boss almost two month to reply because he (Abatay) was a pioneer so the station didn’t want him to go so they were dilly-dallying, waiting for him to come and retract or render an apology but he was insistent on leaving so eventually they replied his resignation that management has accepted your resignation so you can move on”, Kweku Yeboah narrated.

He concluded by saying “All those rumours and allegations are false. As we speak we are very close friends. When his father died, I emceed his funeral. We still act as brothers. All those allegations are not true.