NDC consoles bereaved families

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) on Thursday expressed its condolences to bereaved families of the stadium disaster after the league match between Accra Hearts of Oak and Kumasi Asante Kotoko.

A statement issued in Accra called on the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government to institute a full-scale independent Commission of Enquiry into the tragedy and take the appropriate measures to avoid any recurrence.

It said at an emergency National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting held at the party headquarters, the NDC called on the government to declare a national day of mourning in honour of the victims, while all National flags should be flown at half-mast.

They also urged the Ghana Football Association (GFA) to suspend the national premier league competition for at least two weeks, impose a temporary closure of the stadium for suitable reconstruction to be undertaken, while investigation into the disaster continues.

The party said arrangements were insufficient to check the possibility of occurrence of violence.

The party, the statement said, believes that if a combined security network of the police and other security agencies had been put in place as prevailed previously, the situation could have been different and the deaths could have been avoided.

The NDC called on the government to take immediate steps to release the identified bodies to relatives such as Muslims, for quick burial as Islamic tradition demands.

The party also wished those on admission at the various hospitals speedy recovery.

"The NDC calls for state assistance for the burial and funeral of the victims and the payment of adequate compensation to the bereaved families.

"We hope this national tragedy will call for sober reflection on all aspects of sports administration and management of infrastructure and support services at sporting facilities," the statement added