GAF Recruitment Stampede: Committee on Defence and Interior Visits Victims

The Committee on Defence and Interior, led by its Chairman, Hon. James Agalga, has paid a visit to injured victims of the El-Wak Stadium stampede at the 37 Military Hospital. 

The Chairman of the Committee indicated that two statements had been read by Minority Chief Whip Hon. Frank Annoh Dompreh and Hon. Edem Agbana on the floor of Parliament, emphasising the need for Parliament to make some interventions. 

He said “we are here in the pursuit of the Speaker’s directive that the Committee takes steps to look into the matter whether in a form of probe or investigation.” He stressed that the Ghana Armed Forces has instituted a board of enquiry to establish what led to the unfortunate incident. 

He assured that the Parliament of Ghana cares about the welfare of the victims. Hon. Agalga stressed that measures will be rolled out to forestall future occurrence of such tragic incidents. For his part, the Ranking Member of the Committee, Hon. Ntim Fordjour, sympathised with the victims and their families and urged all to refrain from politicising the matter. 

He said “we will look into it objectively and offer constructive recommendations for the way forward.” He added that “we are appealing to the Government that in the best interest of safeguarding lives of potential recruits, all nationwide recruitment exercises be put to a halt or suspended for optimal measures to be put in place.” 

He also called for adequate compensation to be given to the families of the brave potential soldiers who have lost their lives. He said the victims who will recover and are medically fit should be prioritized by the Ghana Armed Forces. Hon Fordjour said the Committee will support the GAF and the Ministry of Defense to put the right measures in place to prevent any such incident.