ON SATURDAY when fans of Hearts of Oak and Liberty Professionals file past the main entrance at the Accra Stadium for the opening of the National Premier League, they would find out about a few changes at that entrance.
The vice president of the republic would this morning unveil a monument in memory of the 126 football fans who lost their lives two years ago as Hearts played Asante Kotoko in a crucial league decider.
The events of that day have earned Ghana a reputation in international media circles that no one would be proud of-the country where Africa's worst football disaster occurred.
As we mark the anniversary, six senior police officers would be wondering what fate awaits them in the ongoing trial for manslaughter.
They are John Naami, Faakye Kumi, Frank Awuah, Frank Aryee, B. B. Bakomora, all assistant superintendents of police and Chief Superintendent of Police Koranteng Mintah.
An Accra high court has been hearing evidence from media men, club officials, including Herbert Mensah, and several other people at the scene of the disaster that day.
The men, like many football fans, had gone to the Accra stadium for the traditional high-tension classic game between Hearts and Kotoko.
It was one of those games both sides needed to win badly and after leading for long periods of the game, Kotoko were hit by two great goals from Ishmael Addo to deny them a famous victory.
Defeat is hard to take for fans used to success but Kotoko's was made more painful by the fact that it was from their bitterest rivals.
They contended Ishmael's match winner had come from an offside position and demonstrated their anger by ripping off seats at the stands and hurling them onto the tartan tracks at the stadium.
The police responded with tear gas and as the fans attempted to escape, they were crushed against the locked gates in narrow exit passageways.
The national outcry was damning, with the police taking incredible flack for the loss of lives. Mobs attacked police personnel as the peace officers took the chunk of the blame for disaster.
President Kufuor jumped to the aid of the police, pleading for calm as the events threatened to influence more violence. "The enormity of the catastrophe is too much for us mortals to understand and this may have led to the violent incidents in a part of Accra. There has been a general condemnation of the police service but I will ask for maximum restraint to allow some proper procedures to identify those behind this disaster".
Kufuor moved quickly to set up a probe headed by the former head of the Ghana Bar Association, Sam Okudzeto.
The report of the commission placed a large chunk of the blame at the doorsteps of the police but also recommended that the structure of the Accra stadium be changed to allow for large entrances and exits for free movement.
But the report said little about the fans rioting that led to the firing of the tear gas, prompting accusations that the commission had conveniently overlooked the root cause of the tragedy.
The best thing that was said, around the time, however, came from President Kufuor who told a mass memorial service that never again should such tragedy befall the nation.
"This is a time for the healing process to begin. We owe it to the memory of those departed," Kufuor said after laying a wreath. "We must resolve never again to allow such a disaster to happen."
While nothing close to that has happened, there have been occurrences after that dreadful day to suggest the nation has not really absorbed the lessons of May 9.
Take the staircase to the Accra stadium upper terrace section. There you would find narrow staircases that would do very little to ease the number of casualties, if anything happened. Barbed wires still decorate some of the stands while violence continues to reign supreme at many league centers in the country.
The worst part of it though is the ease with which soccer fans still contest refereeing decisions they disagree with by resorting to violence. At least on one occasion, after the disaster, fans have ripped chairs at the same north stand - now May 9 stand - where the tragedy occurred.
Flying ice water bags and bottles have become the by-word for disaffection, be it against the decision of a referee or a coach's tactics.
To those for whom the events of that evening - the tears, lifeless able bodies and desperate relatives looking for their loved ones have become tattooed on their minds - scenes like those only bring back memories of a terrible day that could so easily have been avoided.
With the national league season scheduled to kick off this Saturday, it would be critical that we keep President Kufuor's words in mind: "We must resolve never again to allow such a disaster to happen."
