Former Asante Kotoko Express editor, Jerome Otchere has rebuked the club’s management for its silence amidst complaints by victims of the July 12, 2017 accident.

Last Sunday marked exactly three years since the horrific incident happened. Asante Kotoko team bus with players and technical team members on board ran into a stationary truck in Nkawkaw.

The team was returning to Kumasi after playing a Ghana Premier League match in Accra against Inter Allies which they lost 1-0. As a result, Deputy Equipment Officer Kofi Asare died while several others suffered serious injuries.

However, three years on, the victims have still not been compensated. The complaints by victims have intensified recently. Former coach Steve Polack, Sunday, said the management should think like adults and compensate them.

'Basically it's a human thing that you do that, you come to your employee’s aid when there have been kind of problem to your employee,'' he told Wontumi FM in Kumasi.

''You are an employee and you are working for an employer, you expect them (employer) to take care of you whatever that happens to you during your contract or how long you’ve been working there so we are expecting them(Asante Kotoko) to do that.

''Let’s be honest, they are adult, they should know these things; If the tables turn around and it happens to them, how will they feel, three years later and we still haven’t been compensated, what if is them was in the accident, don’t you think they would have already got their compensation?.

''So always you need to put yourself in other people’s shoes and feel it too, Kotoko needs to compensate us (accident victims).''

But the club remain tight-lipped about the issue. 

Jerome, who was editor of Kotoko express, official the mouthpiece of the club, at the time, in a series of tweets, stated that there is ‘no moral justification’ for the leadership’s refusal to speak. 

https://twitter.com/JeromeOtchere/status/1283303971394813957?s=20

https://twitter.com/JeromeOtchere/status/1283305581806333952?s=20

He shared records of the newspaper which indicated that over 100,000 cedis was donated to the club while Hollard insurance refunded medical bills.

https://twitter.com/JeromeOtchere/status/1283306897991442433?s=20

“Nothing was given to the victims. Some of them I personally know and have seen are still facing medical issues they can’t take care of. And we still believe they don’t deserve even a word of consolation or a check-up on them if we can’t give them financial assistance?” he quizzed.

https://twitter.com/JeromeOtchere/status/1283308278924161024?s=20

https://twitter.com/JeromeOtchere/status/1283309732716044288?s=20

The accident victims deserve better. If we can’t compensate them, let’s just get close to some of them to find out their fate. It costs nothing to do that. It’s only humane. A victim, like the bus driver (pictured), who had multiple surgeries needs real support.”

https://twitter.com/JeromeOtchere/status/1283315035515887616?s=20

Three years is too long a time not to speak on a matter like this. The Board, whose Chairman [Dr Kwame Kyei], was the leader of the club at the time of accident, must respond to the victims on humanitarian grounds,” he added.

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