I'm more than bitter - sacked presenter says

Kwabena Bobie Ansah, the sacked host of Ekosii Sen, a political programme on Asempa FM in Accra has lashed out at the management of Multimedia Group, owners of the station, for dismissing him without any plausible explanation.

The broadcaster whose programme on the 23rd of February this year culminated in the near attack of the radio stations by irate supporters of the New Patriotic Party led by Anthony Karbo, says he was given a raw deal by the Chief Executive Officer, Kwesi Twum, and the Chief Operating Officer of the station, Ekyi Quarm.

Over hundred angry supporters of the opposition NPP besieged the premises of Asempa FM threatening to beat up some NDC panelist and Bobie Ansah who they accuse of raining insults on their flagbearer, Nana Akufo-Addo.

The supporters were prevented from entering into the Asempa studio by some workers of the company and the security forces.

In a no-holds barred first public interview after he was given the sack, Bobie Ansah told KSM on Metro TV’s Thank God It’s Friday (TGIF) that he is a very bitter man.

“I am more than a bitter person. Look at my eye[s] and you would understand me. I am very bitter, you can’t tell me I should not be bitter. Asempa was just a small station, Ekosii Sen was just a small programme. I built that programme, that station with my energy - everything I had - only for one day the owner to come to me and tell me ‘we don’t need you anymore’.”

He said after the foiled attack on the station, he was asked to take some 2 months all-expenses-paid vacation to cool off while the dust settles. He was however handed a letter terminating his appointment on the 19th of April with a GHS 6,000 compensation. He said the CEO of Multimedia Group “was sacking me with GHS 6,000. He was betraying me with GHS 6, 000.”

He described his time at the station as a wasted period due to how he was pushed out. “Asempa FM is my baby, Ekosii Sen is my child. I loved that station… Kwesi Twum has not been fair to me.” he added. He denied being on the pay roll of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) explaining that he bought a Land Rover at $15,000 in 2007 when the NPP was still in power and therefore does not rely on the finances of any political party.

He blamed top officials of the company of scheming with the NPP to get him out of the station. He said he received information from someone within the NPP alleging that some senior officials of the Multimedia Group were paid by NPP to get rid of him because of the perception that he was working for the NDC.

He indicated that there were allegations in the past against some top broadcasters of Joy FM who were reportedly receiving money from the NPP but none of them were sacked for it.

“That is why I have been saying that I need an explanation [on] why I was sacked. If the intention is that Bobie is working for the NDC so we will sack him, then Kwesi Twum has not been fair because the same allegations that have been leveled against me have been leveled against others in the same corporate office.”

“If you have any evidence, you have any proof; you bring it on the table. I want Kwesi Twum and Ekyi Quarm if indeed they have conscience, they should come and tell the truth about what I did.”

He said there have been a number of occasions where officials of the NPP have congratulated him for his professionalism and that the attack on his person by some leading members of the party surprised him.

He accused the Multimedia Group of lacking the moral right to flaunt its media freedom credentials, stating: “I hope Kwesi Twum and Multimedia will forever shut up when we are talking about press freedom because when they talk about press freedom, they don’t have any idea.”

He indicated that he will take some time off to restrategize before settling on what next to do.

“I wish I can get something for myself like my own radio station but I don’t have the capacity, I don’t have the money. I wish I can get something doing for myself.”