Retired Brigadier General Robert Offei Sackey has called for a comprehensive review of the Ghana Armed Forces’ (GAF) recruitment procedures following the tragic stampede at the El-Wak Sports Stadium on Wednesday, November 12, 2025.
The incident resulted in six deaths, while five individuals remain in the Intensive Care Unit and 12 others are in critical condition at the 37 Military Hospital. Thousands of applicants had gathered at the venue hoping to secure enlistment into the military, but overcrowding and poorly managed queues led to the fatal crush.
Speaking in an interview on Saturday, November 15, Brigadier General Sackey emphasised the need for a more efficient and safer recruitment process.
“In my view, we should look at the practical approach—how it happened, and whether this method of recruitment is still what we should pursue. There are so many ways of going about it,” he said.
He criticised the decision to combine applicants for the Army, Navy, and Air Force into a single mass entry point, noting that recruitment exercises in previous years were more orderly when each service processed candidates separately.
While acknowledging that some indiscipline among the crowd contributed to the chaos, he maintained that adequate planning and effective crowd management could have averted the disaster.
“It could have been prevented. In previous years, candidates were brought in by service—Navy, Air Force, then Army. Unfortunately, this time all three services were mixed together, with more than 20,000 people converging at the stadium. That is about the size of spectators at the Accra Sports Stadium.
Apart from poor crowd control, the indiscipline of some people who refused to remain seated contributed to the stampede. I believe the first blame goes to the crowd’s indiscipline.”
Brigadier General Sackey reiterated the need for the Ghana Armed Forces to reconsider its recruitment strategies to ensure safety, order, and efficiency in future exercises.
Source: theghanareport
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