Who stole Kotoko's cash ?

Saga of Hearts 2-1 Win And Its Aftermath

Two hefty slaps, one by eternal rivals Hearts of Oak on the cheek of corporate Asante Kotoko, and the other a free-for-all wholesale pick-pocketing by unidentified traceless rogues, have sent the eyes of the red porcupines popping out of their sockets.

Interestingly, because the corn barn cannot be burnt down without an input from the mouse, two elemental institutions namely the Kumasi Police and some Kotoko operatives stand accused at both ends of the divide.

Painfully, the two cannot agree on which side of the chewing stick to begin chewing from, and so both stand at a pivotal height to malign each other while the ethos of the matter, a missing cash of several billions of Cedis remain siphoned, unaccountable and untraceable.

Shamefully too, CCTV evidence from cameras installed right there at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium by the state to police such thievery, have all been tampered with and relevant pieces of evidence removed.

For some two weeks, the ordinary Kotoko supporter had had his sensibilities offended by accusations and counter accusations so shameful to a height as high as heaven's eye brow.

Kumasi Police Public Relations Officer Chief Inspector Ibrahim Tanko has been speaking in flawless Twi, the Police’s account of how Kotoko CEO Mr. Sylvester Asare Owusu actually packed wads of cedi notes into a Zoom Lion container, and quick-stepped upstairs into a counting position.

But while that accusation has not been denied, Kotoko officials too have plastered the Police with accusations of the same magnitude that has suggested that, the security agents were either part of the problem, or the whole problem.

It is in the light of this that government has set a Committee of Enquiry not to paper over the financial cracks, but move to unearth the shadowy and unwanton dip into Asante Kotoko's pocket.

Conservative estimates have it that even on a flat figure of ¢6.00 at the gates the sale of 35,000 tickets ought to have fetched Kotoko some ¢ 2.1 billion old Ghana cedis.

And with the Adako-Jachie Sports Stadium Complex underway and cash constraints as needful as oxygen in a stuffy room, Kotoko should have benefited enormously from gate proceeds from this match.

The pain has however been two-fold. First remains the colossal loss of cash with still many more tickets unsold, while the stadium remained jam-packed. Yet another remains the 1-2 ignoble defeat from their rainbow enemies whose aftermath has seen the sacking of the Belgian Maurice Cooreman, who has since gone to FIFA for redress for outstanding cash.

Cooreman is asking for his outstanding cash of $ 21,000 the club owes him, which Kotoko would have paid from the stolen gate proceeds, had untraceable elements not picked from its pocket.