Ghana: Heads roll over stadium disaster

  1. Posted on Tuesday 7 April 2009 - 11:19
    Dolphyne
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    Joseph Appiah-Dolphyne, AfricaNews editor in Accra, Ghana
    The Chief Executive Officer of defending league champions in Ghana, Kumasi Asante Kotoko, Sylvestor Asare Owusu, has been banned for five years from football administration. This follows a White Paper issued by government of Ghana in support of recommendations by the James Marshall Belieb Committee.
    Ghana_can_home
    Asare Owusu is alleged to have siphoned part of the gate proceeds accrued from the game and has there been recommended for prosecution too.

    The committee was instituted to investigate the cause of the recent stadium disaster at the Baba Yara Stadium which claimed four lives and left several others with injuries.

    The Chief Executive officer of the Ghana Sports Council, Prince Oduro-Mensah has also been dismissed for allegedly tempering with CCTV cameras in the stadium.

    Four football fans died and several others were left injured due to suffocation following overflowing attendance at a premier league game between Asante Kotoko and Hearts of Oak in which the latter won the game by two goals to one.

    The committee said in its report that, the attendance at the stadium was 9,000 people more than the approved capacity of 40,000 people.

    The Minister of Youth and Sports, Muntakar Mohammed Mubarak, accepting the report said government will take immediate action on it and demanded payment of GH¢820 declared as gate proceeds to be paid into government chest.

    The minister also disclosed that fans captured on the CCTV camera in the stadium for misbehaving would be arrested and prosecuted.

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