Ghanaian journalist and broadcaster, Afia Pokua, popularly known as Vim Lady, has sparked a national conversation following her bold remarks on the recent tragedy at El Wak Sports Stadium on Wednesday, November 12, 2025, where a stampede during the Ghana Armed Forces recruitment process claimed the lives of six young women.
Speaking on Okay FM 101.7 on Wednesday November 12, 2025, Vim Lady questioned the root causes of the deadly incident, refusing to jump into the usual political blame game. Instead, she called for sober reflection and accountability across the political divide.
“I won’t be quick to blame the NDC alone,” she began. “We all know there are no jobs in this country. And we also know that no government can solve unemployment issues overnight. It must be done progressively.”
However, the outspoken journalist did not spare Ghana’s two main political parties, accusing both the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) of fuelling the current crisis through years of incompetence, unfulfilled promises, and misplaced priorities.
“We must admit that both the NPP and the NDC have failed us. They make big promises like ‘The Big Push’, ‘One District, One Factory’, and ‘Jobs for the Youth’, yet what do we see?
Unemployment keeps rising, and young people are dying in search of opportunities that simply do not exist,” she lamented.
Vim Lady further extended her criticism to Ghana’s political history, blaming the late former President Jerry John Rawlings for initiating the sale of state-owned factories established by Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first President.
“If not for Rawlings and those who sold the factories Nkrumah built, like the Nsawam Cannery, Komenda Sugar Factory, Bolgatanga Meat Processing Plant, and the Jute Factory, Ghana would have been a different country today,” she asserted. “We would not be importing everything from toilet rolls to toothpicks.”
She noted that Ghana’s over-dependence on imports and the collapse of local industries have deepened unemployment, pushing desperate youth into dangerous situations such as the stampede that led to the deaths of six young women seeking recruitment into the Armed Forces.
Vim Lady also criticized successive leaders for failing to revive Ghana’s industrial base.
“Former President Kufuor, with the support of Alan Kyerematen, tried to revive some of these factories, but it never worked. Then President Akufo-Addo came with One District, One Factory, but where are the results? If these factories were working, we wouldn’t be here mourning our young women,” she said.
She concluded with a heartfelt appeal for national unity and decisive action.
“We need to come together as a country and fix these root problems, not with slogans, but with real, consistent policies that give people hope and jobs. If not, we’ll keep losing more of our youth in the name of employment.”
