Players and officials of the Braves of Customs are making allegations of deliberate sabotage after a strange blackout hit their game against defending champions Reformers of Prisons in matchday two of the Division One play-off.
The Braves of Customs had reasons to make that allegation after the match in which they were leading by six points ended abruptly after the venue which was the Cantonment Prison experienced a strange power cut.
A 48-42 lead with just a handful of minutes left to play, the Braves were confident of taking their victory over the line but the strange light out meant that the game had to be put on ice with the organizer still pondering over the next step forward.
The suspicion by the Braves stems from the fact that whiles the lights at the Prisons’ court were off, the area had no power troubles with the lights brightly on.
They are convinced that the incident was plotted by their opponents who knew they were just a few minutes away from a painful defeat.
Speaking to GhanaWeb on the development, Alex Kukula, Director of the Greater Accra Basketball League and Vice President of the Ghana Basketball Association described it as strange and gave a chronological account of events on the day.
He disclosed that efforts by him and other officials to get answers over the sudden power outage proved futile as facility managers who either not available or not cooperative.
According to him, the organizers were shocked by the sudden power as the facility is directly connected to the national grid which immunes it from power outages even when the specific area experiences a power cut.
Mr Alex Kukula will not be drawn into the conspiracy theories but assured that the organizers will fully investigate the issue and take the necessary measures that will protect the integrity of the competition and basketball in the country.
“We’ve no concrete proof to ascertain if it was a deliberate act. To put off a whole headquarters of the Ghana Prisons’ Service just because of a basketball match is a serious thing if that’s what happened. I would like all of us to keep a cool head and find a way of solving this thing now.
”It’s their premise we’ve been using for the league the past few years. We will go back to the powers that gave us permission to look into it and let us know officially what happened on that day so that there will be clarity and the integrity of the law will be kept,” he said.
By: Clement Osei Aboagye
