Former Ghana Football Association president Kwesi Nyantakyi has revealed a deeply personal and poignant account surrounding the incarceration of Alhaji Inusah, the founding chairman of Wa All Stars, at the Nsawam Medium Security Prison.
Nyantakyi made the revelation during the launch of the Prisons Football Project on Tuesday, June 3, 2025—an initiative aimed at using sport as a rehabilitation tool within Ghana’s correctional system. The project, rolled out in partnership with the Professional Footballers Association of Ghana (PFAG), includes the donation of sporting equipment to prison facilities.
Recounting his recent visit to Nsawam, Nyantakyi disclosed that it was his reunion with Alhaji Inusah, an old friend and colleague from their days at Upper West Heroes FC, that triggered his decision to devote his life to supporting inmates.
“From a personal perspective, I want to commit myself to working to improve the lives of prisoners for the rest of my life. I would never have thought about prison until two weeks ago when I came here to visit my brother from Wa, Alhaji Inusah.
“We met him there [in prison]. We all went to the same school—Maxwell Konadu, Kwame Ayew—and they all played for Upper West Heroes Football Club with Inusah.
“When I formed Wa All Stars, he was the first chairman of the club for about five years. One day, he went to his land in Wa because he had heard that some people were selling it.
“He went there with a pump-action gun, and they threatened to beat him. They were many, numbering up to 12, so he decided to issue a warning shot.
“The mistake he made was that, instead of firing the shot in the air, he shot at the ground, and the bullets ricocheted, hitting two innocent people over 100 meters away. They were not connected to the issue, and they died. That’s what sent him to jail, so it could happen to anybody.”