Former Attorney General and anti-corruption advocate Martin A. B. K. Amidu has stated that President John Dramani Mahama holds direct constitutional responsibility for the deadly stampede that occurred during the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) recruitment exercise at the El-Wak Sports Stadium on Wednesday, 12 November 2025.
In the opinion piece, Amidu argues that the tragedy, which resulted in six deaths and dozens injured, was “self-inflicted, avoidable, and the result of an executive leadership implementing policies centred on the glorification of the ego of a President.”
According to him, as Commander-in-Chief, President Mahama must be held accountable for what he described as “the sad fate of all dead and maimed citizens seeking the minimum means of subsistence which the Constitution promised to every citizen.”
Amidu referenced the update delivered in Parliament by Finance Minister and Acting Defence Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, who confirmed that “thirty-four casualties had been recorded, including six confirmed deaths… Five individuals remain in critical condition.”
He dismissed preliminary reports that blamed the victims for breaching security protocols.
“The explanation that the desperate youth triggered the stampede insults the reasoning of ordinary citizens,” he wrote, insisting that the state bears responsibility for summoning thousands of applicants to a venue that lacked the capacity for such numbers.
Amidu accused the Mahama administration of reorganizing the military command structure based on “loyalty to political party affiliation instead of hallowed security standards,” saying this political intrusion weakened the GAF’s ability to manage major public exercises.
He stated that the President should have publicly owned up;“The President should have taken personal responsibility for the catastrophe and apologized to the nation instead of spinning away and passing blame to victims.”
