May 9th 2001
To Our Fallen Heroes The grief that splits our soul Is of all loss the most forlorn, anguish far too deep for tears to ease the pain we feel.
To lay our heroes in earth’s embrace Our arms and our hearts all grieve For each in turn therein held you, And emptiness they now contain. With every morn, we mourn anew.
To the sad families of our heroes Who loved them first and best, To those who broke their bread with them, And watched each early quest,
To every long-time friend of theirs, To those who held them dear, For those who kept them smiling, And those who drew them near,
To each of our heroes fans, Admirers, devotees, To all our heroes lovers, Who clutched them in the night, To all of those who held them close, Suppliers of delight....
Our heroes were our diamante, our perfect, shining pearl, their ever-present memory, Encompassing our world;
From a country lost without your soul You shall always live on in our hearts And there, where we keep our most treasured There you would remain until we meet.
This tragedy coming some days after similar stadium tragedies in South Africa, Congo, and The Ivory Coast shook the Ghanaian nation to the core.
The match was between two topmost Ghanaian football clubs, Kumasi Asante Kotoko and Accra Hearts of Oak. Matches between these 2 teams have always been competitive and the rivalry between them is as big as that between Real Madrid and Barcelona or that of Inter Milan and AC Milan. In fact some observers say they are the two biggest ideologies in Ghana, dwarfing any political, tribal, regional, or any other grouping.
The match ended 2-1 in favor of Accra Hearts of Oak, but just before the match ended, some fans began ripping off chairs from one stand and hurling them onto the pitch. Police overreacted by throwing about 20 tear gas canisters into the stands in an effort to control the crowd. Gunshots were fired in addition to the tear gas. Panic ensued and the gunshots worsened the situation which led to a stampede resulting in the deaths of 126 people.
This is what a prosecution witness Constable Joseph Agbenyega of the Police Striking, told the commission that was setup later to investigate the tragedy.
“Nana Koranteng Mintah ordered me to fire into the air during the May 9, 2001 disaster at the Accra Sports Stadium. I fired five rubber bullets into the air as directed by Nana Koranteng when spectators started destroying plastic seats at the May 9 Stand of the stadium”
In the ensuing stampede, One hundred and twenty six people lost their lives. Below is an eyewitness account at the scene of the tragedy.
“As I made my way towards the stadium car park I met a lot of hysterical supporters rushing from one of the stands known as "Ade-Coker stand".
"They are killing us! They are killing us!" some of them shouted.
I could sense there was something seriously wrong somewhere, because it wasn't only the losing set of supporters who were running away, but also the victorious Hearts fans.
I made a quick u-turn back towards the press box, which was deserted save for a few security personnel.
As I quickened my pace towards the area of confusion, I could see people lying helplessly on the ground.
Three hours of torrential rain earlier in the day had turned the area into messy pools of water.
My heart smashed against my chest as it dawned on me that these people on the floor were either seriously hurt or dead. I could see both Hearts and Kotoko supporters carrying lifeless bodies from the foot of one of the staircases. The Chairman of Kotoko, Herbert Mensah, was in the thick of the rescue efforts directing and carrying many of the bodies.
But the worst was yet to unfold.
As I made my way towards the staircase, I froze! What I saw is something I will never forget for the rest of my life. There was a pile of bodies that had blocked the entrance of the stairway, making it impossible for anybody to go up the steps and similarly nobody could come down.
Those coming down were literally being thrown down from a slope of about 50 feet (15 metres). The iron bars supporting the steps had given way; the banisters were bent with the force of supporters rushing down.
The scent of tear gas was still in the air, but the real killer was people being crushed to death. They were just running away from the stinging tear gas which had been fired into the stands by the police. The most appalling look of fear and hopelessness was written across the faces of dying innocent young men. They were dying and there was nothing anybody could do to save them. In the distance, the sirens of police vehicles and ambulances could be heard, but I wondered if it was too late.
By 7:45 pm, approximately an hour after the tragic events began to unfold, I had personally counted 30 dead bodies. An hour later at the 37 military hospital, 96 deaths had been confirmed. A terrible disaster had just struck one of Africa's most peaceful nations. By midnight the death toll had risen to 126.
Brigadier Daniel Twum, of the military hospital where most of the dead and injured were taken after the stampede, told the Reuters news agency.
“Some died of suffocation but the majority seem to have been killed by being crushed,"
The then Minister of Presidential Affairs now late Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey urged relatives gathered at the hospital to return home.
"What is important now is to remain calm. It is a night for us to mourn and not a night to worsen an already bad situation with anger and impatience."
It was the fourth soccer disaster in Africa during the past month.
Mary Sarah, who spent the night waiting in front of the morgue:
“My three brothers travelled from Kumasi to Accra to watch the match”
"After the news of the incident, I called the Kumasi home, but the phone rang and rang and rang ... They are my everything, " she said.
The few who managed to enter the morgue wept as they identified the dead.
"I heard yesterday that my son was at the mortuary but I couldn't believe it. I've just seen him for myself and I still can't believe it," wept Hajia Sisi Serena, after identifying the body of her 28-year-old son.
"I am shocked and terrified at the heavy casualty toll from what simply started as unruly behavior from a handful of people," Hearts of Oak captain, Jacob Nettey, said.
I had the honor of joining Mr. Mensah on a walk last year in memory of those who lost their lives in the stadium disaster. We converged at the Baba Yara Stadium where donations where made to families of the victims of the disaster. Mr. Mensah has been in close touch with families of the victims and as one single mother who lost her husband in the tragedy remarked, “Herbert Mensah has been ever-present in our lives since that day ten years ago, as he has shown empathy and sympathy towards us, so may God guard and guide him”.
And so the disaster came and passed and even though Ghana’s spirit was shaken to the core, the country needed to move on with the business of life. A commission was set up to look into the disaster by the sitting President John Agyekum Kuffour.
The Chairman of the commission was Lawyer Sam. Okudzeto, other members of the commission were Professor George K. Ofosu Amaah, former Director of the Special Branch, Professor Agyeman Badu Akosa, President of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), Professor Akua Kuenyehia, Dean of the Faculty of Law, Legon and Mr. Ken Bediako, a veteran Sports Journalist.
President Kuffour, who inaugurated the commission, asked the commissioners to determine their own procedure and not feel limited to staying at the Teachers' Hall for their operations but inspect the scene of the disaster and invite experts on the suitability of the structures at the stadium. He remarked further: "As you take the oath of office, we thank you for accepting to serve the nation. Do not leave anything behind since you appreciate the gravity of the situation that led to 126 people dying and over 200 injured”.
The commission among other things recommended the prosecution of six police officers, which a government White paper upheld.
Police officers, Chief Superintendent of Police, Koranteng Mintah, ASP Frank Awuah, ASP Faakyi Kumi, ASP B.B. Bakomora, ASP John Naami, and ASP Frank Aryee were each charged with 126 counts of manslaughter.”
The Defense Counsel made a submission of no case, in their submission of no case, they prayed the court presided over by Mr. Justice Yaw Appau to acquit and discharge the officers as the Prosecution had failed to prove its case.
The court in its ruling on the submissions of no case, stated that the Prosecution could not prove the acts of the Officers as those who caused harm, killed or maimed the 126 fans at the Stadium on May 9. The Court also held that the Prosecution had failed to prove the essential ingredients of the manslaughter charge against the Officers.
The ingredients of the charge were: that there were deaths; that the deaths were caused by harm; that the harm caused was unlawful; that the Officers caused the death of the 127 fans and that the harm amounted to reckless disregard toward human lives.
It maintained that the Prosecution had proved that there were deaths but could not prove that the fans died as a result of harm caused by the Officers.
Mr. Justice Appau was of the view that the Officers did not cause the deaths of the 126 fans as the Pathologists had attributed the cause of deaths to traumatic asphyxia and not through inhaling of tear gas.
This, it said occurred as a result of inadequate air for the fans to breathe and stated that the Officers should not be blamed for that.
Mr. Justice Appau, however, attributed the cause of death to the failure of the Stadium Officials to open the gates, coupled with the light going off and the narrowness of the stairway where most of the fans forced their way through.
He mentioned that the fact that the Prosecution failed to prosecute the junior officers, who fired the tear gas, meant that the use of the tear gas was lawful.
The Judge noted that the Officers were duty bound and were acting lawfully by dispersing the rampaging fans that were destroying public property.
"The Police in preventing crime ought to apply maximum force and as such did not have in mind what was happening at the gates."
And so the trial ended without anyone being held accountable for the deaths of the 126 people who lost their lives at the stadium on May 9th, 2001.
A ‘Stadium Disaster Fund’ was set up to raise funds for the upkeep of the families and dependents of the victims of the disaster. Members of the committee were Ms. Helena Cobbina of the Ghana Police Service, Mr. Kwesi Essel Koomson, the managing director of KEK Insurance Brokers, and Mrs. Regina Apotsi, the Judicial Secretary.
The Commission also recommended among other things that children of the victims should be supported through Senior Secondary School in addition to a daily wage for their upkeep.
“Children of pre-school age be supported each with the minimum daily wage,” the report said adding “to supplement the fund on a permanent basis and to commemorate the occasion of the disaster each year, the two clubs, Accra Hearts of Oak and Kumasi Asante Kotoko should play a charity soccer competition on a convenient date near May 9, at the Accra Sports Stadium for a trophy donated by the fund.
Part of the recommendations also stated that “in the case of the 54 victims who did not have any children, a one-off ex-gratia payment of ¢10 million be made to the victims’ parents or accredited legal representatives of their family.” The report also asked government to contribute at least ¢2 billion in the first year of the fund to supplement the capital of the fund and sustain the disbursement scheme.
The White Paper endorsed the commission's recommendation that a series of training programs should be organized for the police to equip them to deal with flashpoints not only at the various stadia but in all aspects of the Ghanaian society.
Henceforth, policemen who were not assigned duties would no more be allowed entry into any of the stadia throughout the country.
The management style of Enoch Teye Mensah, former Minister of Youth and Sports as the political head of sports promotion also came in for criticism. The White paper endorsed the findings of the Commission which established that the overbearing presence of the former Minister intimidated officers of the National Sports Council to the extent that most officials of the NSC shied away from taking major decisions on their own, apportioning part of the blame on the indecisiveness of leading officials of the Council.
One casualty of this perceived timidity is the Acting Chief Executive of the Sports Council Brigadier George Brock. The retired army officer is to be dismissed from his post with immediate effect.
The Government wondered why clubs using facilities provided by the Sports Council for league matches paid only a pittance of gate proceeds towards the maintenance of the various football arenas and other properties of the NSC. To this end, the White Paper ordered a review of the share of the proceeds of the Sports Council at football matches.
The Government viewed facilities provided by the Accra Sports Stadium for major sporting events as woefully inadequate in the construction of the National Olympic Complex, (the site of which was said to have been acquired by the Rawlings regime at a place near the Accra-Tema Motorway).
The White paper slammed the quality of chairs at the Accra Sports Stadium which were easily torn apart by irate fans and ordered a thorough examination to establish their suitability, or otherwise, to accommodate sports fans.
