OTSUNOKO SPEAKS: “I will expose fake pastors”

POPULAR radio talk show host, Kwabena Asare, aka “Otsunoko”, has stated categorically that he will never stop exposing the negative activities of fake pastors so long as he remains in the radio business.
This, however, does not mean he has any sinister motives against pastors or churches.
The anchorman of, “wiase mu nsem”, on Nhyira FM in Kumasi, perhaps the most listened to programme in the Ashanti and Brong Ahafo regions, said, “I am only interested in helping to expose wrong doings in society”.
In a wide-ranging interview with the Graphic Nsempa in Kumasi, Otsunoko said what he was doing amounted to pastoral work only that he had not received the calling yet.
For many in Ashanti and Brong Ahafo regions, Otsunoko is one of the finest presenters in the radio industry who has been contributing greatly in exposing wrong doings in society.
Ironically, his name “Otsunoko” in Ga language literally means “do something”. Therefore Otsunoko has taken it upon himself to expose some of the false prophets, activities of witches and wizards as well as marital problems and other social vices on his radio programme, which is aired on Nhyira FM between Mondays and Fridays from 7pm to 10pm. Numerous revelations bordering on witchcraft, wonder stories, marital problems and some bad activities of certain pastors are made known on the programme. He claimed he has been studying the Bible very well and is presently involved in a research on the genesis of sin, which he was undertaking with the help of a collaborating institute in the United Kingdom. He therefore does not agree with people who think that he was personally interested in attacking pastors on his programme. “It would surprise you to know that many members of the churches, whose pastors cheat them and practice all sorts of negative activities come to me with their own stories”, he said.
Otsunoko said his interactions with many of the pastors had indicated that many of them make numerous promises to their flocks, mainly the women, some of whom they have sexual relations with.
“So when it gets to the point where the women feel cheated, they rush to the media and to be precise, Otsunoko’s programme for exposure of the pastors. ”Before the stories are aired, the pastors are contacted for their versions and it is interesting listening to the explanations of some of them on air as many of them end up exposing themselves the more”, he said. Whilst some pastors have achieved fame with their appearance on Otsunoko’s programme, others have lost theirs as a result of exposures made about them on the programme. According to Otsunoko, it was through his instrumentality that the fetish priest at Akomadan, Nana Kwaku Bonsam, has become very popular in media circles in recent times. Adding, he said, although, Nana Bonsam had been around for some time, “he was operating on the quiet without media attention until he appeared on my programme”. Otsunoko described himself as someone who had since his infancy yearned to help expose wrong doings in society. “I was a very troublesome boy during my childhood days but I always insisted on the truth”, he stressed. He claimed there was a prophecy about his birth and that the prophecy was that, he was going to be a strong boy, who would insist on nothing but the truth and would also save lots of people from trouble and from being cheated. This prophecy was said to have come from three people at a time Otsunoko's mother, Madam Martha Agyeiwaa, a businesswoman, had given birth to two children and was earnestly looking for a third one which was not forthcoming. The last prophecy was said to have been made by one Prophet Mary of Kyebi in the Eastern region. “So all that I am doing now is a prophecy come true”, he said. On how he ended up in the radio industry, Asare said he entered the industry at about 10 years ago at Otec FM in Kumasi as a panel member on discussion programmes and was motivated by listeners to take up job as a radio presenter on full time basis because of how he made positive contributions on air as a presenter of highlife, gospel and reggae music on part time basis. In 2003, whilst still working at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) hospital as a laboratory technician, he secured another part time job at Classic FM in Techiman and worked only on weekends as a presenter. After a year’s sojourn at Classic, he moved to Kumasi to work with Radio Mercury on full time basis where he played highlife, reggae and gospel music. At Mercury there was a programme called “Nsem Pii”. The concept of the programme was to broadcast foreign wonder stories, superstitious stories and stories on witchcraft with occasional broadcast on local witchcraft stories. The host of that programme, ‘Sir’ Richard was one time physically attacked at the Radio Mercury premises by a group who claimed he had exposed their diabolic activities on the programme. Sir Richard was said to have been frightened by the physical attack and decided not to host the programme again. That marked the turning point in Otsunoko’s career as he was asked to take over the programme. When he took over, he discarded the idea of broadcasting mainly foreign stories and veered into the local scene where he invited so called wizards and witches to the studios to tell stories about their activities. The programme “Nsem Pii” became very popular in Ashanti and beyond and attracted many listeners to Radio Mercury. People started rushing to the station for their stories to be broadcasted. There were times that Otsunoko travelled to shrines, interviewed fetish priests and invited some of them to the studio. Perhaps the story that enabled Otsunoko to attract more attention was the Sefwi Yaw Donkor murder case in 2004 where he managed to convince Donkor, a suspected murderer then, to the studios of Radio Mercury to tell his story on the murder case. Donkor’s account on radio gave the police a clue to the fact that, he was the brain behind the murder and was subsequently apprehended from where he led the police to exhume the body of the deceased, which he secretly buried in the bush. From then on Otsunoko organised a durbar at the Cultural Centre at where a number of supposed witches and wizards from various parts of the country converged and recounted their stories which was broadcasted live on air. He left Radio Mercury for the new Nhyira FM in 2006 after the death of the Chief Executive of Radio Mercury, Nana Kwabena Poku. At Nhyira, he introduced the programme “Wiase mu nsem”, which had the same concept as that of the “Nsem Pii” programme. A native of Nsuta in Ashanti, Otsunoko was born in Accra some 40years ago to the late Sergeant Owusu Bediako a.k.a. Akatapore of the Ghana Police Service and Madam Martha Agyeiwaa, a businesswoman. He schooled briefly and moved to Koforidua Anglican Primary as his father was on transfer there, then to Tamale Anglican Middle School and Duayaw Nkwanta Anglican Middle School. He had his secondary education at the Duayaw Nkwanta Secondary School where he completed his ‘O’ Level in 1990. From there he took some private courses and obtained a certificate in laboratory technology, worked for two years at the KNUST Hospital and later to Rophi Clinic at Akwatialine before taking up radio on full time basis. Otsunoko claims his hobby is travelling and has travelled to many Asian countries including India. He claims he does not like food very much but prefers taking tea at all times and does not like making friends. He is married to Naana and they have three boys.
The talk show host s also a philanthropist who occasionally make donations to various orphanages as well as assisting needy people who come on his programme.