“Death is not the opposite of life but a part of it.” – Haruki Murakami
“Every man’s life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived
and how he died that distinguish one man from another” – Ernest Hemingway
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time” – Mark Twain
It was a sultry Wednesday, a day after we had celebrated our birthday, that
death laid its icy hands on Owura Stephen Kwabena Boateng, commonly known
as Kwabena Kesse or Kessben. We learnt later that, of late, he had shown signs
of illness, as revealed by a fellow media owner, Dr. Kwaku Oteng.
We had known Kessben from a distance, but we were monitoring all his movements, being a very good friend and mentor to our brother-in-law, late Kwabena Agyemang. For his show of generosity to our brother-in-law, the latter named one of his children after him.
Kwabena now described as lawyer, entrepreneur and business mogul, was born on September 12, 1957 in Kumasi and attended Akosa Local Authority Primary and Middle Schools at North Suntreso School where we were the pioneers in 1958. And we would recall Mr. Anaman, the headmaster from Anomabu say of Mary Mensah who could not follow his lesson: “Ei, Mary Nwanwa, cake, bread, cheese, butter nko aa na wonnyae wo ma wonni…” (Ei, wonderful Mary cake, bread, cheese butter, we should leave you eat…)”. He later attended Kumasi Anglican Senior High School where he obtained his O-Level and from where he proceeded to Fosu Training College and, like us, became a teacher. After teaching for three years, he quit the job and travelled overseas.
From a humble beginning as a teacher he veered into business, and ventured into the importation of used refrigerators and electrical appliances. He was to venture into finance, real estate, education, travel (and tours) hospitality and media.
One could say Kwabena had the Midas’ Touch and like Midas, anything he touched turned gold. You know King Midas’ story? King Midas assisted a lost Satyr called Silenus, a friend of the god of wine Dionysus. Dionysus, being grateful for Midas’ assistance, offered to grant King Midas any wish he would make.
King Midas wished that anything he touched would turn gold. Dionysus granted the wish and everything King Midas touched turned gold, including plants, stones, furniture and even food. When Midas touched his daughter, she turned into a golden statue. “Enough” shouted starving King Midas and prayed
Dionysus would take back King Midas’ wish; King Midas was advised to wash his hands in the River Pactolus. Things returned to normal-and his daughter regained her youthful life.
68-year-old Kwabena Boateng was the Chief Executive Officer of Kessben Group of Companies, including Kessben Media (Kessben TV and Kessben FM); Kessben University College, located at Kuntanase; Kessben Travel and Tours; Kessben Shipping and Freight Forwarding, Multi Credit Savings and Loans; Kessben Driving School, Fosua Hotel and Kessben Consult.
One cannot forget the Kessben Football Club which was later sold to
businessman Moses Armah Parker who renamed it Medeama Sporting Club.
Kwabena Kesse also built the Anane Boateng Stadium at Abrankese. It is whispered (and Kwame Asare Boateng reported in Daily Graphic of August 2010) that Kwabena Kesse had sold the Kessben Club to Moses Armah for $600,000, but admitted; “It is crazy to run a premier club in Ghana. After three years of participating in the Premier League, I realised I was in the wrong business.
I was not getting returns on my investment, beside the fact that the construction of the Anane Boateng Stadium alone cost me about US$1.6 million, while monthly expenses on the club were about GH¢440,000. Indeed, I was running the club at a loss because no sponsorship was coming, attendance at matches was nothing to write home about, while officialdom at the Football Association also frustrated us with questionable decisions…”
Was Kessben broke when he sold Kessben Football Club? He replied: “Far from that! We had 10 businesses in the Kessben Group of Companies and if we saw that one was running at a loss; there was every reason to dispose of it… All these years we managed to sell only two players and you can surely see how we suffered to run the club…”.
Kessben FC started as Kessben Academy in 2001, and built itself through the Third, Second and First Division before qualifying for the premiership.
The Abrankese football stadium was built in 2007 by Kwabena Kesse as the home-ground for Kessben Football Club. The stadium was later used for local events, social gatherings with religious crusades, and topping the list were programmes by the Moment of Glory Prayer Army (MOGPA), Reverend Isaac Osei Bonsu (born to Mr. Anane Boateng and Madam …). He started the ministry in April 2011 as a radio broadcast programme on Kessben FM in Kumasi.
It is now in the hands of Dr. Kwame Kyei, the Asante Kotoko Board Chairman who has extensively renovated the facility.
Kwabena’s venture into estate development transformed Adum as a local business centre, and “Aseda House” is a typical example. So also is the development of the estate houses at Tanoso.
The Kessben University at Kuntanase offers university undergraduate
bachelor’s degrees and diplomas in business, health, science and arts (BSc.
Business Administration; BSc Logistics, Procurement and Supply Chain
Management; BSc Mathematics; BSc Information and Technology; BSc
Nursing; BSc Midwifery; BA Media and Communication Studies; BA Politics and International Relations).
The courses Kwabena took at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) could have helped in shaping his career: a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics with law, a Master of Business Administration (Finance).
Of course, the various workers under Kessben in all his business ventures have helped to build the business empire, and all of them, to a man, have very very nice words for Kwabena Kesse, and Adwoa Kyerewaa of Kessben FM recalls how she was re-instated after her sacking during the down-sizing of the Kessben FM.
Kessben’s philanthropy is demonstrated by the show of support to correctional facilities including GH¢100,000 to Kumasi Central Prison. His support in terms of disaster reliefs was demonstrated recently when he donated GH¢100,000 and 500 bags of cement to traders affected by the recent Kejetia fire outbreak. There is also the community outreach in which the group supports local orphanages, educational needs as well as social welfare programmes in the Ashanti Region and other regions in Ghana.
Kessben, being called to the Ghana Bar as a lawyer in 2022, at the age of 64 would have been a perfect solicitor, given his pedigree and all his business acumen. He was ready to sit in the law class with his daughter, Claudia Kesse, for the LLB in 2016. Who says Kessben’s age of 64 years was not helpful?
The popular Italian sculptor and artist, Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (1475–1564) noted at the age of 87, “Ancora imparo” (I am still learning). Michelangelo wrote poem 285 in 1554 and noted: “Neither painting nor sculpture will be able any longer to calm my soul, now turned toward that divine love that opened his arms on the cross to take us in.”
Michael Sullivan translates another one of Michelangelo’s poems, thus: “I feel as lit by fire a cold countenance That burns me from afar and keeps itself ice-chill; A strength I feel two shapely arms to fill which without motion moves every balance”, so we believe in the philosophical concept; education has no end? Aristotle’s concept in “Nicomachean Ethics” extol the virtuous lawyer and
business mogul. Kessben, da yie.
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