GHANAIAN STAR BECCA'S MANAGER HITS BACK AT HER FATHER

Remember  Mr Kiki Banson - Manager and confidant of Ghana's singing diva Rebecca Acheampong aka Becca has reacted to last week's rants by Becca's father over reported plans of Banson to turn his artist into his wife apparently without the blessings of her family. You'll recall that in my report, I stated that Mr Acheampong's (Becca's father) proclamations condemning Banson's role in his daughter's personal life and  effectively disowning her was going to open up a can of worms.... Well, here it comes! There's usually two sides to every story but in this case, they may well be three sides should Becca herself eventually decide to say her piece so  I'm pretty sure its only just starting. For one thing, if Mr Acheampong's temperament is as sensitive as I gather, then he'll definitely like to have the last word. But then, Banson has made no secret of the fact (in this open letter that you're about to read) that he still has his aces kept close to his chest. Still, I have to observe that Banson's letter does not quite confirm or deny the reports of his purported intentions to marry Becca - a foregone conclusion from Becca's own announcement in October that she was now engaged... However, on the music front, one good thing that can come out of all this is if Becca can pen a hit song based on this story of her roller coaster life its going to sell like hot cakes.... Open the can of worms after the cut...

November 8, 2012

Dear Mr. Acheampong,

For months now, I have heard and seen reports of your words in newspapers and online regarding your daughter, Becca, and myself. From the respect I have for my elders and for Becca’s welfare, I have kept quiet. But after the latest report, I find that I have held my peace long enough. It is time to speak the truth.

I met your daughter Becca six years ago, in August 2006, at a place that was known then as the Office, now Rockstone’s Office. It was Reggie Rockstone himself who introduced us, at the place he would later own. At the time Becca was 22 years old and signed a contract with me when she was 23 under the supervision of qualified lawyers. Not 17 as you have recently claimed in your public statements. She had recently returned from the UK, where she had been living for some ten years. Before that first meeting in 2006, I had no idea Becca even existed, a fact, which Reggie can attest to.

At that time, I had been looking for talent to work with, but had not yet found one who impressed me. Becca, I immediately recognized, was different. I was struck not only by her talent but also by her determination to succeed. It was a drive that was missing in other talented artists I had seen. So I got to know Becca as a friend and sister over the next several months.

After many years of her in London and at such a young age, Becca did not yet have a full understanding of the system here. She was, furthermore, young and naïve about her surroundings. I worried that because of her naturally kind and open nature, she would fall victim to people with bad intentions and vices.

Though Becca was and remains a very independent and private person, it became clear to me that she was not living a comfortable life. I could tell she was going through some very hard times inwardly and outwardly and to be honest very vulnerable like any girl of her age in her situation would be. And I could also see that she needed some kind of parental presence: guidance and guardianship that she was obviously missing but she was yearning for due to her obedient nature.

So with all this in mind, I offered her my room in my own house. My couch in my living room became my bed during the three months that my brother, who had been living in my spare bedroom, completed his house, after which she stayed in my spare room. I made sure she never went hungry. I made sure she always had clothes on her back. I made sure she always had a safe place to stay while we worked together to develop her God-given talent. Becca at this point had become family and I found necessary to make sure she was ok.

I thank God that my parents – the late Mr. and Mrs. Banson – brought me up well. May their souls rest in peace. Due to my upbringing, I deemed it right as a respectful and responsible Ghanaian adult that I look for the parents of the 22-year-old girl whose career I wanted to develop and converse with them. Legally she was old enough to make a decision herself, but I believe that before law, there is culture.

During the nearly 2 years that Becca lived in my house, on an almost daily basis, I asked her: where you were? I found it strange that such a bright girl with so much potential didn’t seem to have the interest or support of her parents. So, finally, I was able to convince Becca to show me where you lived so that I could call on you.

I came to your house one fine Sunday afternoon, unannounced, and I introduced myself to you in the presence of your wife and some of your children. You received me very well and thanked me for keeping your daughter safe. You asked me whether Becca had told me how harsh you could be. I said that she had, but that I had told her that it was important that I spoke with you. She had laughed, I told you, about the fact that I was even brave enough to enter your house unannounced. I stayed for a little while and I left on a very good note.

For a brief time, the relationship between you and your daughter improved tremendously, to my great joy. You even used to come to where I was living then to visit her. When my company EKB Records, outdoored Becca at the Golden Tulip Hotel in November 2007, you attended and seemed to be very happy with her progress in life. The same with her children’s Ball two years later at the state house hence surprised I am, at you claiming not to know the whereabouts of your daughter to the media.

So far as I was concerned, you and I had a very cordial relationship. I ensured that Becca went back to school and got some more formal education in addition to her certificate in childcare. She enrolled at GIMPA and took a degree course in project management for three years, which she recently graduated from with a first class honors. A situation that I know you don’t know about. I tried to instill independence in her to the best of my ability because it had become clear to me that she had no one but God to depend on. There were countless times, though, when the going got tough for her. At my advice, she sought your help, despite her misgivings. Nothing ever came out of it.

On one occasion a year and a half ago, she asked you for 500 USD to make up her differences in school fees. You refused, she told me. I found this very difficult to understand, and for the first time I thought Becca must be lying to me. Because to you, 500 USD as I know, is a drop in the ocean. You once told me while you were raining insults on me on the phone with pride that your holdings in Accra property alone were worth 60 million USD, a figure I don’t doubt.

So, I picked up the phone myself and I called you. Like a son to a father, I told you that finances that month where Becca was concerned was not good, and I asked you for a loan to help with Becca’s fees, which I would pay back. You said to me that you had some very important things you were doing: you were going to buy paint for one of your buildings.

Throughout her three years at GIMPA in school and the years before that when I knew her, you made no contributions to her development either in money or shelter or any other way. But she was determined. And with the help of people who saw in her a great woman, she was able to sail through school practically on her own.

Since the school fees incident, everything you have said about me has been negative and lies. I cannot know your thoughts at this time, but if I offended you by that incident I am sorry. I was only trying to help Becca. I am not in competition with you I just lent a hand to someone who needed it. I am also not asking you or anyone else to thank me, that is for God. But I beg of you don’t spread lies about me.

Last year during Christmas, I sent you a text wishing you Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. You replied with insults and told me never to call you, send you texts or go near any property that you owned. A situation I just laughed off.

Three months ago I got a call from you. As soon as I picked up the line, you started insulting me. You said you had heard that I am going to marry your daughter. For about ten minutes, I didn’t utter a word as you harangued me. You threatened to kill me and all the other members of my family. Mr. Acheampong, I have a recording of that call on my phone.

I mentioned my parents earlier on. They taught me well. One of the things they taught me is that if you want to get married to a woman you go to the family. You bring your families together. That is the basis of our society: It is ridiculous for you to believe that someone as intelligent as Becca would ignore this to get married in a secret ceremony. In a marriage in our society, what is there to hide? Mr Acheampong if It is God’s wish that I wish to marry Becca at any point in time you will be the first to know and in the proper manner as our culture and laws demand.

It surprises me also that have you have said that I want “to become popular” and therefore am trying to marry your daughter. At the time I met Becca, though my own name was well known, even my neighbors didn’t know who she was. All I saw was potential that needed guidance. And I believe that Becca’s potential is just beginning to be realized. I saw in her then what people see now.

Mr. Acheampong, you don’t seem to realize that you are being used. You are being fed with lies meant to enrage you and incite you to react in anger. The intent of these people is to use your temperament to get you to say hurtful things that will induce me to give up and bow out of Becca’s life. So they can have access to her for their own selfish interest. That I can assure you will not happen. Sadly, the key architects of these lies are two people whose names I would withhold for now but not for long. Just to tickle you imagination one of them is very close to you and lives in the UK and the other who you may not know lives here in Ghana and shamefully orchestrates the spreading of these lies.

Publicly, you pride yourself in your daughter’s success. But she has earned that success by her own abilities through a long, hard struggle, and with the help – not of you – but of those who believed in her and did what they could for her along the way. She has been able to succeed so well without help from you. The only thing she ever received from you in her quest to succeed has been discouragement. I would have thought that as a father, you would have wanted to support such a daughter. Instead, you seem to want to destroy what she built, in five years of sleepless nights, alone.

As God works through mysterious ways, I believe I’m being used by him to for Becca. I have never asked anybody in this world to give me a trophy or an award. I am just doing what I love to do. And I am just being there for my best friend. I am not claiming to be an angel or to have had a perfect working relationship and friendship with your daughter. But I would never embarrass, hurt or disgrace Becca in such a manner and I have always had her welfare at heart. Your libelous words cannot stop me. The only thing that can stop me is God.

I have been very patient because my primary concern is for Becca. But one thing you must remember is that your freedom and your rights end where someone else’s begins. You have hurled insults at my family and myself in the press – people you’ve never met in your life and you know nothing about but they have maintained civility like I said my parents did a very good job.

There are certain things that you have said and done over the years that I will not write in this letter, because I do not know where this letter might end up taking history into consideration, because they may hurt Becca’s feelings. But I am highly disappointed, I advise you to retract the untruths that have already hurt so deeply myself, my family and so deeply your biological daughter Becca. And I advise you in the future to carefully consider your words because you are really hurting your daughter who has done no wrong to you.

Sincerely,

Kiki Banson
*The Spy ALWAYS finds out and ALWAYS tells it like it is. Follow @africancelebspy on Twitter and like me on Facebook... Or else..