May 9th Remembered on Facebook
Accra, 9 May 2017 – This year will mark the 16th remembrance of a dark and bloody tragedy in Ghana when 126 football fans died after a match between Kumasi Asante Kotoko and Hearts of Oak at the Accra Sports Stadium. At the end of that historic match that ended in a 2 – 1 win for Hearts police fired tear gas into the stand where Kotoko supporters rioted because of p
erceived unfair refereeing. Because the exit gates were locked and unmanned hundreds of supporters who tried to escape the burning pain of the tear gas were crushed to death. A commission of enquiry into the tragedy recommended that four policemen be tried for murder. All four were found to be not guilty of murder, as the deaths were not caused by the tear gas, but by asphyxiation. Herbert Mensah, Chairman of Kotoko at the time of the tragedy, has over the years organised special remembrance events and visits to families of the deceased fans. Mensah said, “May 9th is not just about remembering the deceased but more about remembering the lessons we as a Nation learned from the biggest football stadium disaster in history.”
In an effort to make sure that these lessons are never forgotten, Mr. Mensah initiated the creation of various communiqués. These include a page, a Blog and the creation of a first draft e-Book on the occasion.
“Remembering May 9th and the lessons learned from this tragedy should continue for generations to come. Such a remembrance should remind all parties involved to not repeat the mistakes made on a day when 126 young lives were ended so abruptly and horrendously,” he continued to say. The page titled “May 9th Remembered” is accessible to all Facebook account holders and contains numerous links to references about the disaster on the Internet. It will also serve as forum for discussion of issues relating to crowd behavior and control, event management and administration, security, football administration and corruption to name a few. Other initiatives that will be announced during May 9th Remembrance events organised by Mr. Mensah for 2012 include a Blog on the disaster. More information will be released to the media and will also be available on Facebook.
