No way for hooligans in Kotoko - Boateng

THE Personal Secretary to the Asantehene, Mr Kofi Owusu Boateng, has described a demonstration by a section of Kotoko supporters calling on the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II to dissolve the Kotoko Board of Directors as baseless, unwarranted, misguided and misdirected.

Describing the demonstrators as hooligans, he said their action portrayed them as a small group of people who intended to cause confusion in Kotoko to perpetuate the selfish interest of some people.

“We are not going to countenance any act of indiscipline in Kotoko or tolerate faceless people, who would like to hide behind these hooligans in order to seek vengeance for their fallen pride and cause confusion”, he stressed.

Mr Owusu Boateng made this pronouncement during an interview with the Graphic in reaction to a section of Kotoko supporters who called on the Asantehene to dissolve the Kotoko Board of Directors established a few months ago to assist in running Kotoko.

He said the hooligans couldn’t have their way because Kotoko is a well-organised club and any one who has any qualms about the existing order should pass it through the right channel instead of intimidating authority.

He noted that the Circles, AKOPA, Ladies and other associations are there and anyone with any grievances could pass through these organised bodies instead of hijacking the existing order.

He explained that the people who constitute the Kotoko Board are not only experienced and men of substance but honest and dedicated to the cause of Kotoko and therefore finds it very ironic for a section of the Kotoko supporters to call for its dissolution.

“The Manhyia Palace will never sit down for people to undermine what Otumfuo has taken three years to establish and anyone who has any problem with the present Board should pass it through the right channel”.

Mr Owusu Boateng pointed out that “to the palace, everything is moving on very smoothly because the members have their vision, focus and direction intact”. He said in this democratic era, any acts of hooliganism should be a thing of the past and those who are clamouring for the board’s dissolution have a hidden agenda and do not want the best for Kumasi Asante Kotoko, as they want the public to believe He explained that Otumfuo Osei Tutu established the board at an appropriate time and for some people to undermine it at a time they are carefully analysing things to be able to offer the needed guidelines and support is totally uncalled for.

Such people, he said do not understand the slogan “Wo kum apem a apem beba”, he stressed saying, for Kotoko, there has been experienced Board of Directors, management, and players and technical directors in the past, whose contribution to the development of the club was unsurpassed, but their existence never had any adverse effect on Kotoko.

He said he is not under any way clamouring for anyone to leave Kotoko but “no one should consider his position as indispensable, because like the slogan of the club, others who are ready to contribute to Kotoko’s interest will emerge as soon as any position becomes vacant.

“While we open our arms to all to help in moving Kotoko forward, no one should consider himself as indispensable”, he stressed.