Richard Komadoe, a renowned security expert, has voiced a critical response to the disastrous stampede that occurred at the EL-WAK Sports Stadium. Speaking in an exclusive interview with Citizen Kofi Owusu on Ahotor FM, Komadoe laid bare the many failures that led to the tragedy.
According to Komadoe, the main failure was in the recruitment procedure itself. He highlighted that Accra, being a metropolitan area with a dense population, offers numerous large venues such as the Accra Sports Stadium and Independence Square. These locations could have been strategically utilized to divide and manage the huge crowd, allowing for a safer and more efficient recruitment process. Instead, packing everyone into a single place increases risks unnecessarily.
Komadoe emphasized that with better planning, the authorities should have either spread the recruitment exercise across several venues or arrived earlier to EL-WAK equipped with adequate infrastructure, including enough tractors and materials to properly set up the area to handle large crowds. If these measures had been taken to create an orderly environment, he insists the youths would have complied, and the recruitment exercise could still have yielded successful outcomes without endangering lives.
Addressing the mindset of the youths involved, Komadoe reminded listeners that army recruitment is not simply a job search but a call to serve the nation. He noted that serving in the military requires sacrifices, and there is always the grim possibility of fatal outcomes. This reality should inform every stage of the recruitment process, reinforcing the need for caution and care.
He further stressed that the army must accept full responsibility for the incident. Komadoe dismissed any notion of political interference, pointing squarely to the recruitment procedures as the root cause of the chaos. “This is a matter of procedure, or lack thereof,” he said.
Komadoe identified several key failings: lack of adequate preparation, absence of rehearsals for managing large numbers, and attitudinal issues within the organizing team. These deficiencies combined to create a weak, outdated process completely unfit for the demands of the 21st century. The army’s recruitment process, he argued, urgently needs modernization to prevent such tragedies from recurring.
His comments come as calls grow louder for thorough investigation and sweeping reforms to protect future recruits and restore public confidence in national service institutions.
Story by: Mercy Addai Turkson #ahotoronline.com