Former Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu has linked the El-Wak Stadium recruitment tragedy to what he calls the systematic politicization and weaponization of Ghana’s security agencies under the current administration.
He argues that the deaths and injuries recorded during the recruitment exercise were not the result of a simple crowd surge but a deeper structural failure created by the executive’s interference in military command.
According to Amidu, the government’s “reset agenda” led to “the GAF and other law enforcement agencies being reorganized and weaponized at critical high command levels to be at the service of the executive authority towards the next elections.”
He said this restructuring sidelined experienced senior officers in favour of politically loyal appointees.
“This intrusion into the command structure based on loyalty to political affiliation instead of security doctrine is what we saw happen at the El-Wak and Kumasi recruitment exercises,” he stressed.
Amidu also questioned the military’s operational judgement, noting that El-Wak has long been known for crowd surges due to its location near high-traffic corridors. He argued that any competent command team should have foreseen the risks.
“Commonsense would have alerted any patriotic and professional organizers that the El-Wak Stadium alone as the point of congregation was likely to result in fatalities,” Amidu asserted.
He dismissed the preliminary investigative report that blamed applicants for breaching security lines.
“Such explanations show no remorse and demonstrate the insensitivity of a government that summoned citizens to a venue where they met their untimely deaths,” he wrote.
Amidu maintained that the tragedy is a reflection of broader institutional decay caused by political appointments;
“I doubt whether this catastrophe would have happened if President Mahama and his gang of uncritical worshipping sycophants did not compulsorily retire senior generals to make room for political loyalists.”
He concluded that leadership failure, both within government and the military hierarchy, was the primary cause of the disaster, calling for accountability rather than deflection of blame.
