El-Wak tragedy: Govt offers recruitment slots to victims’ families

• Posted on November 18, 2025November 18, 2025
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

They were qualified to the stage of documentation inspection and body selection and for the families to lose them under such circumstances is very painful. 

“Once the replacements meet the health and fitness requirements, they will be recruited,” the Deputy Minister of Defence, Ernest Brogya Genfi, said when he, together with the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Dr Agnes Naa Momo Lartey, visited the bereaved families and injured victims last Friday.

The delegation visited the families of Priscilla Efua Larbi at Enyan-Maim in the Ajumako Enyan Essiam District and later called on the families of Peace Okpotivi and Priscilla Esinam at Kasoa and the family of Benedicta Yayra Kale at Sowutuom in Accra.

They also visited Benedicta Frimpong, one of the injured victims, at Kasoa to check on her condition.

The team presented 50 packs of bottled water and an undisclosed amount of money to each family.

Automatic enlistment

Mr Brogya Genfi added that all injured applicants, including the five in critical condition, would also be automatically enlisted into the Armed Forces once medical teams confirm their recovery.

“All injured persons involved in this tragic incident are to be given automatic qualification to be recruited.

As soon as they recover and are assessed as suitable, they will join the Ghana Armed Forces,” he stated.

The Deputy Defence Minister described the past months as deeply challenging for the government and the security sector.

“We are not even out of the woods from the tragic incident that claimed the life of the minister three or four months ago, only to be met with this very painful exit of six precious, promising young ladies,” he lamented.

Investigation underway

Mr Brogya Genfi informed the families that the officers who supervised the recruitment exercise had been directed to step aside to allow for a full, impartial investigation by a board of inquiry.

He added that the ministry had also suspended the ongoing recruitment exercise until new, safer phased procedures were introduced.

Psychosocial support

The Gender Minister assured the families that the government would fully support them through their traditional burial arrangements.

“The government is standing with you to give your loved one a dignified burial; everything that needs to be done, the government will take care of,” Dr Lartey said.

She said immediate psychosocial support would be provided to both the bereaved families and the injured survivors.

“Many of them are going through trauma. For some, even holding on to a photograph and refusing to let go shows how heavy this has been.

Psychosocial support is the first thing we are offering and the ministry will walk with them through the healing process,” Dr Lartey added.

The incident

Six young women died, while 22 others sustained injuries in a stampede at the El-Wak Stadium during a military recruitment screening.

A statement from the Ghana Armed Forces said the tragedy resulted from an unexpected surge of applicants who breached security protocols and rushed into the gates.

Thousands had turned up at the Accra venue hoping to secure enlistment into military careers.

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