Over 3,000 seats at the Baba Yara Stadium have been damaged following clashes between senior high school students over the past two weeks.
According to Ashanti Regional Public Relations Officer of the National Sports Authority (NSA), Patricia Adams Mensah, 455 seats were broken in a day after Kumasi Senior High School clashed with Kumasi Senior High Technical School (KSTS) and Simms Senior High School, respectively, during the inter-schools and colleges football competition.
On Monday and Tuesday, chaos erupted again between students during the TVET (Technical and Vocational Education and Training) athletics event.
“For the TVET, we invited them and informed them. They were aware when the seats were broken; we have 3,955 seats broken,” she told Luv FM.
Patricia also said the Ghana Education Service, the main organisers of the football event, contracted a third party to fix the seats, but payment will come from the schools involved.
“In the previous years, we would have been on them to fix it. But according to them (GES), they are saying they won’t pay physical cash. They have contracted someone to come and fix them. They are waiting for the schools to make the payment.
“They’ve written to the schools involved, and the headmasters have admitted that they will do the payment for them to do the needful,” she said.
When asked about the presence of security men during these competitions, Patricia said the police are always involved, but sometimes they are not enough to control the situation.
“You have to bring the medical team and then together with the security because we have to protect life and property, so we had a meeting with them, discuss it thoroughly.
“According to them, they’ve written to the police, and the police have been coming, but sometimes there are not enough. These children are not afraid of these security men.”
The Baba Yara Stadium is currently hosting the 2026 Ashanti Regional Inter School Athletics Competition as authorities race against time to repair the broken seats and prepare the stadium for the Super clash between Asante Kotoko and Hearts of Oak on 15 February.
