Oliver Barker-Vormawor has urged the state to prioritise accountability and transparent compensation for families affected by the El Wak recruitment disaster, rather than offering automatic military slots as consolation.
“I am deeply empathetic for lives lost at El Wak. Common sense was completely lacking, and these deaths are their cross to bear,” he stated in a post sighted by MyNewsGh.
He said families deserve meaningful support, not gestures that distort institutional processes.
“What families deserve is a transparent compensation process, full public accounting of what went wrong, psychological support, and the guarantee that such recklessness by command will never be repeated,” he noted.
Barker-Vormawor argued that alternative tributes would respect both the victims and the Armed Forces.
“Perhaps the more principled and dignifying gesture is not to bend recruitment rules, but to honour the fallen directly by granting them honorary posthumous enlistment,” he proposed.
He added that ceremonial recognition is appropriate for the victims. “Let the State bury them with the rituals, honours, and symbolic commission befitting young people whose lives were cut short through the negligence of those in uniform,” he said.
According to him, such actions would uphold the integrity of military structures while acknowledging national failure.
“We must do right by the families, but we must do so within the bounds of constitutional prudence and national security,” he said, adding that the most meaningful honour is preventing similar tragedies.
