A cross-section of concerned supporters and shareholders of Accra Hearts of Oak held a demonstration in Accra yesterday, calling for the reconstitution of the club’s Board of Directors.
According to them, the term of the current Board was over and was important to form a new one to breathe some freshness into the team.
Dubbed ‘Togbe must listen to minority shareholders,’ the hundreds of demonstrators, drawn from Accra, Kumasi, and the Eastern Region, began their match from the Obra Spot at the Kwame Nkrumah circle towards Adabraka.
They presented a petition to the club’s National Chapters Committee (NCC) Chairman, Elvis Herman Hesse Jr., to be presented to the board.
Mr Maxwell Yaw Asabre, a leader of the group, said the past 13 years have been hell for the supporters of the club, as a result of the performance.
According to him, Hearts has always been a powerhouse in Ghana and on the continent, winning the first league organised in Ghana, being 21 times Ghanaian champions, six straight times (1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002), and being 11 times winners of the FA Cup.
“It was from this height of achievements that SAS took over, and Hearts has since been hardly recognisable. Our glorious club, under the current board and its management, has managed only one league triumph (2021) in 13 years! If this is not abysmal, we do not know what else it is?. It has been heartache after heartache and the sacking of coaches in rapid succession.
To this end, the group urged the board chairman to go by his word about retiring the moribund Board and appoint new members.
They also asked for a restoration of the NCC’s slot on the new board.
They also called for the formation of a joint committee purposely to come up with innovative ways to get supporters to make direct monthly contributions to the club, a move supporters of the club have embraced.
They called on the Board Chairman to, as a matter of fact, halt all avoidable debts resulting from wrongful termination of contracts of players and officials.
The disgruntled fans were also concerned about the flotation of new shares worth about GH¢300 million, as proposed and adopted at the 2018 shareholder meeting (AGM).
This, according to them, will seek to address the club’s shortfall in revenue in the running of the day-to-day activities of the club, adding that the over-reliance on SAS Loans and the cumulative 24 per cent annual interest not healthy for the club in the long run.
“Every measure must be taken to halt this unhealthy policy,” it added.
The supporters commended the appointment of coach Aboubakar Ouattara and the Managing Director, Dr Delali Anku-Adiamah, and assured them of their fullest support to succeed.
BY RAYMOND ACKUMEY
