Questions are coming up as to why an accident involving a team called Manso Soccer Babies, in which seventeen juvenile footballers got injured over the weekend, has not been reported to the police for investigation.
The information available to The Chronicle suggests that on Saturday morning at about 9 am, Manso Soccer Babies got involved in an accident at Bebu in the Atwima Kwawoma district of the Ashanti region, after the team had boarded a tricycle, popularly known as Aboboyaa, to the venue of their match.Some of the players sustained injuries on their heads and on the neck.
When contacted, the Ashanti regional commander of the Motor Transport and Traffic Department (MTTD), Supt Emmanuel AduBoahen said: “My checks from Trede MTTD indicate that there has been no such official report. They also heard that some people were involved in an accident and they were using a tricycle. They made a follow up to KomfoAnokye Hospital, but they did not get information about the accident and nobody has lodged a report about the tragic accident with them.
He further told this paper that,“He (Trede MTTD Commander) also heard about it, somebody from Joynews called and that compelled him to make a follow-up and did not get any fruitful information and nobody has come to make a formal complaint as well.”
The latest accident comes barely one year after a juvenile football team from Offinso in the Ashanti region werealso involved in a ghastly road accident on the Offinso highway.
Asked on the phone why he had not reported the accident to the police for investigation, Kwame Dankwa, the Atwima Kwawoma District Chairman for Juvenile League could not say anything tangible: “I was not around when the accident occurred. At that time I was in the hospital; even I did not see the aboboyaa.”
Chairman Dankwa further explained to The Chronicle that the team came from Manso Atwedie, so they boarded a car to the venue, where they are supposed to play against Atwima Stars.
According to Mr Dankwa, when the Manso team went to Brofoyedru, which was one of the venues for the colts games, a funeral was underway on the park.
As a result, they asked the driver to take them to Bebu, which was one of the venues, but the driver insisted he will not take them, since that was not what they agreed on.
Chairman Dankwa noted that the team decided to walk to Bebu, but on their way they saw a tricycle heading to Bebu so they pleaded with the rider to join him in the tricycle.
According to him, a few meters to their destination, the tricycle had a challenge climbing a hill, so it lost stability and the entire team landed in a nearby gutter.
This development, he said, saw the seventeen kids sustaining various degrees of injuries. The team was rushed to BebuAhyiayemu Methodist Hospital, where three of them were admitted. Another one was rushed to KomfoAnokye Teaching Hospital (KATH).
Mr Samuel Otoo, the Ashanti Regional Coordinator of Juvenile Football, also told this reporter that “actually, I am the regional chairman but the incident did not happen at my end. It happened at a different district, AtwimaKwawoma District, so it is the chairman who just called me that this is the situation, so I met him and another player at the KomfoAnokye emergency. That is all what I know.
Asked if he does not think he has oversight responsibility to see to it that the accident is reported to the police for investigation, he responded: “Yes, I told the chairman to report the issue to the police so that the police will follow them to the hospital and take whatever information they need from the club, but I have not been able to reach the chairman. I just returned from KomfoAnokye Hospital.”
When The Chronicle further asked him what measures the Ashanti Regional Football Administration has put in place to improve on the transport system for juvenile football teams, Samuel Otoo explained that they cannot determine the kind of transport they have to take for their journey for matches, but they have warned them not to overload the players for their matches.
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