Indiscipline and mismanagement behind deadly El-Wak stampede – Retired Army General
Brigadier General Robert Offei Sackey (Rtd) has said the deadly stampede at El-Wak Sports Stadium during the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) recruitment exercise could have been avoided.
The incident, which occurred on Wednesday, November 12, 2025, left six people dead, five in the Intensive Care Unit, and 12 others in critical condition at the 37 Military Hospital, as thousands of young Ghanaians sought to enlist.
Speaking on Citi FM’s The Big Issue on Saturday, November 15, Brigadier General Sackey pointed to poor crowd management and the mixing of recruits from the Army, Navy, and Air Force as key contributors to the tragedy.
“It could have been averted. It could have been averted because in previous years they were coming in columns of services—that is, Navy, Air Force, and then Army. It is unfortunate that in this particular instance, they mixed all three services together and brought in, as it was written in the newspapers, more than 20,000. That is about the size of the spectators at the Accra Sports Stadium,” he said.
Brigadier General Sackey further emphasised that disorderly conduct among the crowd compounded the situation. “In the first place, apart from poor crowd control, indiscipline by people who have converged at the place to sit down quietly caused them to stampede. I think the first blame goes to the indiscipline of the crowd,” he added.
He urged that future recruitment exercises adopt better crowd management and orderly procedures to prevent a repeat of such a tragedy.
