Silent War At Chronicle

THE BILLIONAIRE co-publisher of THE GHANAIAN CHRONICLE, Mr. Kofi Coomson, who owns several properties scattered over numerous up-market areas in Ghana and Europe, is on the warpath with the soft-spoken immediate past editor of THE CHRONICLE, Mr. A. C. Ohene, over a two-bedroom SSNIT flat at Koforidua in the Eastern Region.

Close aides say Ohene, who resigned from The Chronicle barely five months ago to join Happy 98.9 FM, has refused to quit the flat, which he personally secured from SSNIT in1998.

Coomson, who has virtually edged out his shareholding partner in General Portfolio, publishers of the original Ghanaian Chronicle, is reputed to be very rich, with several interests in the forex bureau and real estate industry. He also owns a palatial hotel in one of the choicest spots in Takoradi in the Western Region; a magnificent three-storey house in the up-market Dzorwulu area and a number of properties in some choicest spots in the UK, including some flats on the chic Crusoe Road, Mitcham, London.

Sources at The Chronicle however say Coomson is bent on adding the flat in Koforidua to the list of Chronicle properties. Consequently, Ohene’s wife and two children who live in the flat are faced with possible threat of ejection.

But aides say Ohene, who personally secured the property in 1998 from the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) is bent on asserting his rights after working tirelessly to secure the flat.

Concord checks indicate that Ohene on his own and with his own money secured the rent and paid it for several years.

At the time he secured the property, SSNIT’s corporate policy was to rent out its properties to companies. Ohene, who was then Regional Editor of the Chronicle at the time, therefore approached Coomson to secure the rent for him through the Chronicle.

Coomson refused, Concord gathered, explaining that he was not in the business of renting places for his staff, except the editor. He was however not against Ohene securing the place on his own, this paper learnt.

Based on this, Ohene, the two-times winner of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) Rural Reporter of the Year Award, secured the accommodation with a supporting letter that had the approval of the then respective Editor and Accountant, Messrs Ebo Quansah and Kemo Marrah.

That was his fault.

Years after he secured the flat and continued to personally pay rent, Ohene did not change the documents to reflect the fact that he and not the Chronicle was the tenant. Not even when SSNIT revised its decision and started selling the properties to occupants and individuals did the then-excited Acting-Editor of the Chronicle changed the documents till he was caught by the usual frustration Coomson metes out to staff he wants out after they spend a number of years (five years on the average) with the Chronicle.

By the time he saw the need to resign, he had served as Editor for almost two years after Mr. Ebenezer Kese Antwi and a host other key staffers walked out on the job.

Riding on the documentation following their differences after the resignation of Ohene, Coomson quickly bought the property from SSNIT. He then caused his lawyers, Kwakuvie Tay, to write to eject Ohene and his family from the flat.

Ohene, who had been fighting on the quiet to keep Coomson off the property and to keep his family in the flat whilst he works in Accra to support them over the past few months, would not elaborate on the issue when reached.

Concord, however, gathered that he had been paying rent from his own pockets over the past five years on the flat without the Chronicle ever paying a dime. The Chronicle however claimed the flat following his resignation.

Efforts to reach Coomson, who was expected back from the UK last weekend, on the issue have proved futile.

The present administrative head of the Chronicle, Mr. Eric Koomson, was unavailable all day Friday when a reporter of this paper was sent to talk to him at the office of the Chronicle for the paper’s response to the issue. A wait for Mr Kojo Omaboe, Acting-Editor of the paper, last Friday on the story concerning his predecessor did not also yield fruit. None of the two bosses could also be reached on phone.

Others available would equally not comment on the issue.

Ohene, now a regular face on TV Africa’s “Media Review” programme spent six years with the Chronicle and is perceived as one of the most dispassionate analysts on TV today. He was the Chronicle’s Regional Correspondent and later Editor till he was roped in to save the paper from collapse after the mass resignations of a number of key staff from the Chronicle, including its editor, Ebenezer Kese Antwi, a.k.a Steve Biko. Others were Messrs Alfred Ogbamey, Sani Siddiq and Paa Kwesi Plange.

Two-times Investigative Reporter of the Year, Mr. William Nyarko, had by then resigned few months earlier following an incredible suspension slapped on him by Coomson to the surprise of his colleagues. Unknown to many Ghanaians, Nyarko received the 1999 GJA Investigative Reporter Award whilst on suspension.

A year before Nyarko’s departure, Mr. Ebo Quansah, who currently edits the highly respected Public Agenda, dramatically walked out from the paper after being consistently undermined by Coomson.

The plethora of journalists who have resigned from the Chronicle include Dr. Audrey Gadzekpo, Messrs Kwaku Sakyi Addo of Front Page fame, Nana Yaa Ofori-Atta, Kofi Opare Addo, Cofie Amoako-Annan, Kwesi Biney (now DCE), Kwesi Koomson, Frank Anokye, Kwabena Andoh, Amos Safo, Augustine Nelson, Issac Yeboah, Kenneth Kuranchi, Mohammed Affum, Kafui Zoyiku, Ms. Joyce Mensah-Nsefo, Olivia Nyarko, Frank Muzzu and a host of others.

There were recent departures of some computer room staff under questionable circumstances during Coomson’s two-week return to the office few weeks ago.