-By Issah Olegor
It was 1989 when a teenage boy with exceptional reflexes and the hopes of becoming Ghana’s next great goalkeeper made a single, fateful mistake—one that would cost him the rest of his youth and most of his adult life.
Today, 53-year-old Akwasi Alhassan remains incarcerated at the Nsawam Medium Security Prison, where he has lived for 36 years—his punishment for a fight that ended in the accidental death of a friend when he was just 17 years old.
Once hailed as one of the most promising talents in the football circles, Alhassan has since become a ghost to history, his name unknown to more than half the nation’s current population.
“I had a fight with a friend,” he recalled, his voice heavy with remorse. “I had a key and I used it on him. Unfortunately, he died when he was rushed to the hospital. I was on remand for four years before I was sentenced in 1993. This has been my home for 36 years.”
A Star Dimmed Too Soon
Born in Kwesimintsim, a suburb of Takoradi, Alhassan rose through the ranks of youth football in the 1980s and was on the verge of joining Ghana’s first-ever under-17 national team.
His goalkeeping talent drew admiration from notable footballers like Augustine Ahinful and Yaw Preko, who described him as “unmatched” and “extremely good.”
But Alhassan’s trajectory was violently interrupted. Convicted of murder and sentenced to death in 1993, his sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment.
Since then, he has lived in a cell while Ghana’s football legends of his generation rose to national and international prominence.
While speaking to Ahinful during a recent football exhibition organized at the prison, Alhassan appeared visibly emotional.
“Please help me,” he pleaded, clutching a photograph of himself alongside the late Christian Atsu during one of the deceased footballer’s humanitarian visits.
In a blue shirt with a symbolic “star” over his heart, Alhassan wore the emblem not of achievement, but of long-term incarceration—a badge conferred upon inmates after decades behind bars.
Redemption Through Football
Alhassan’s story re-emerged in the context of a new initiative led by former Ghana Football Association (GFA) President Kwesi Nyantakyi and the Professional Footballers Association of Ghana (PFAG), dubbed the Prison Football Project.
The campaign, launched at Nsawam Prison over the weekend, seeks to use football as a rehabilitative tool for inmates.
Kwasi Nyantakyi, who himself has been banned from football by FIFA over ethics breaches, was inspired to launch the project after witnessing a prison football match that stunned him with his level of talent.
“There’s immense talent here,” he said. “Prison shouldn’t be the end—it can be a new beginning.”
The initiative has drawn support from football greats like Samuel Osei Kuffour, Tony Baffoe, Kwame Ayew, John Mensah, and Emmanuel Agyemang Badu, who visited the prison, participated in friendly matches, and donated sporting gear and food supplies.
The gesture brought both hope and heartache to inmates like Alhassan, whose talents remain locked away with their freedom.
A Missed Presidential Pardon
In 2024, during the final days of President Nana Akufo-Addo’s administration, a leaked document surfaced online bearing a list of inmates recommended for presidential pardon.
The very first name on the list was Akwasi Alhassan. But the pardon was never granted. The letter, though authentic, was mysteriously withdrawn before implementation.
“He hasn’t been fortunate,” said Augustine Ahinful, shaking his head in disbelief. “To be here for 36 years of your life is not easy.”
The Ghana Prisons Service, through Deputy Director of Prisons Patrick Thomas Seidu, has often advocated for leniency and clemency for certain inmates—especially those convicted under extenuating or juvenile circumstances.
“There are many here who made minor mistakes any of us could have made,” Seidu said, referencing multiple cases of questionable convictions, including a woman sentenced for murder after accidentally pushing her husband during a meal and a boy mistaken for a thief simply because he was running in a crowd.
