Grief-stricken Michael Akuffo pleads with Asante Kotoko to reach out to neglected accident victims

Grief-stricken Michael Akuffo pleads with Asante Kotoko to reach out to neglected accident victims

Former Asante Kotoko midfielder, Michael Akuffo says he is not an elated man after victims of the Asante Kotoko bus accident which happened six years ago revealed that they have been neglected.

The incident which occurred in 2017, recorded one death and multiple injuries when Asante Kokoto were returning from their 1-0 defeat to Inter Allies in a Ghana Premier League game.

Akuffo bitterly narrated how baffled he was with regards to the situation after the club failed to honor its promise of duly compensating victims, leaving many in vulnerable situations.

One of the affected victims, Sampson Appiah, a former Kotoko and Black Stars goalkeeper’s trainer disclosed in an interview to Dan Kweku Yeboah his ordeal which drew the attention of the Ghana Football Association to support him with GHS10,000.00 a few days ago.

According to Akuffo, he is still surprised that the club which has acknowledges the need to pay compensation to the victims have not made good on their promise.

“It’s getting close to 6 years and what surprises me is that Asante Kotoko acknowledges that they have to give us compensation yet they have done nothing for us. It’s hurtful and this can only happen in Ghana because the system only favors those in authority. If this happened abroad, I would have been happily retired by now because insurance would have taken care of me and my family”, he told Sompa TV.

He added, “We are in a system that only favors those in authority and I feel sad about this. It’s not like the compensation expected will be a life changer but they need to do this to pacify our troubled souls due to the unfortunate incident. I could have lost my life and my family would have been dejected,”

Akuffo was part of the about 35 occupants on the bus which included players and officials when the fatal accident occurred at Nkawkaw.

He played for the Porcupine Warriors from 2010-2017, winning the Ghana Premier League on three occasions, and won the FA Cup and the Super Cup.

LSN/DO