Awal Mohammed, a Communications Team Member of the New Patriotic Party, says the Ghana Armed Forces must take full responsibility for the deadly stampede recorded during its recruitment exercise at the El-Wak Sports Stadium.
Speaking on Joy Prime’s Prime Insight, he said the tragedy was the result of poor planning by the military. “GAF should benchmark its own processes because this is not the first time the military is recruiting in this country. Have you ever heard someone die out of that? No,” he said.
Mohammed criticised the decision to gather thousands of applicants at one venue without proper crowd control. “You invited 21,000 people to that venue. People were there from 2 am and 4 am, yet you opened the gate around 7 am or 8 am, so I think it is the military that is to be held responsible for what had happened,” he stated.
He compared the situation to previous recruitment processes in other security agencies. “When we opened the portal for Community Police, over 100,000 people applied. After shortlisting, if 50,000 needed body screening, we decentralised it to the district police offices,” he said. “Even in Greater Accra, if 20,000 people apply, you still spread the process at the district level. So why not do the same for 21,000 applicants?”
Mohammed added that if the numbers were too large for one location, the military should have chosen a much bigger venue. “If the numbers are overwhelming, can’t you go to the Black Star Square? It can take even 50,000 people without a stampede. There is enough space for people to move or run if needed,” he said.
The stampede left six people dead, with many others injured, prompting public calls for accountability.
