Herbert Mensah on collision course with Kotoko Board!

The uneasy relationship between the Asante Kotoko Board headed by Mr P.V. Obeng and the Herbert Mensah management has finally snapped in the aftermath of events of the last few days.

Bad blood was created following the outlining of the board’s policies by its chairman in an interview with the Graphic Sports last Friday. Mr Obeng announced that four committees- the Ticketing, Finance, Technical and External Relations Committees- had been formed with Board members as chairmen to provide policy direction for the club.

Mr Herbert Mensah, who is also a member of the Board, said he never attended any Board meeting at which the formation of the committees announced by the Board chairman was discussed. He accused some of the Board members of having a hidden agenda and said in the next few days he would make certain things about the Board known to the supporters.

Last Tuesday, some supporters of the club demonstrated against the board and called for its dissolution. They later presented a petition to the owner and spiritual head of the club, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, at the Manhyia Palace.

In response to the petition, the personal secretary to the Otumfuo, Mr Kofi Owusu Boateng, described the demonstration by the supporters as an act of hooliganism and said nobody should see himself as indispensable in Kotoko. He expressed the Otumfuo’s absolute confidence in the Board and made it clear that the demand for its dissolution is totally uncalled for.

Some high profile followers of Kotoko who talked to this paper on Thursday said the reaction of Manhyia is a vote of confidence in the board that augurs well for the future of the club. From signals being picked from the grapvine, Manhyia’s reaction was the least the Herbert Mensah management expected, resulting in it being thrown off balance.

The Chief Executive had served notice of his intention to quit the job at the end of this season, but observers believe his exit could be sooner rather than later, his ego having been bruised by Manhyia’s thumbs up for the board’s performance.

Unless the Kotoko Chief Executive leaves the scene, he is certain to find himself on a collision course with the Board over the replacement for German coach Ernst Middendorp who announced his resignation on Thursday evening prior to his departure to his home country Germany.

Middendorp was engaged long before the board was formed and this time around it is certain another foreign coach can’t be appointed without the approval by the Board.

In a related development, Kotoko’s CEO, Herbert Mensah has hinted that he would resign from his position before the year ends. According to him, in the next few weeks he would be writing to the owner of the club, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, on his decision.

Mr Mensah gave the hint in an interview with a Kumasi based radio station on Thursday. The CEO gave reasons for his decision to resign as personal. But observers, however, believe it might be linked to the recent confusion between the Board of the club on one hand and the management and some supporters on the other. Mr Mensah has been at the helm of affairs of Asante Kotoko for three years, during which he undertook a rebuilding exercise that seems to have begun bearing fruits.

Still in another development, two branches of a group calling itself the Asante Kotoko Concerned Supporters Union in Accra and Kumasi have commended Otumfuo Osei Tutu II for reaffirming his confidence in the board in the face of remote-controlled machinations to discredit the board members.

In a joint statement issued on Thursday, the two unions described as “disgraceful and petty” the demonstration last Tuesday by some alleged supporters of Kotoko against the Board. They had demonstrated in Kumasi, accusing the Board of not giving the Management Committee headed by Herbert Mensah, a freehand to run the club.

“We know those behind this shameful occurrence. They are those who have benefited from the unaccountable way of running Kotoko and have grown increasingly uncomfortable since the naming of the Board. We question the loyalty of these people to the cause of Kotoko because they have shown in deed that they only think of their personal interests and not that of Kotoko,” they said.

They urged the board to stand firm and not to give in to the blackmail of people who are deluding themselves that without them Kotoko would collapse. “Kotoko’s motto “Kum apem a, apem beba” means reslience and the club will survive till the end of time,” they said.