The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) has announced the closure of all recruitment centres in Accra except El-Wak Sports Stadium, effective Monday, November 24, 2025, as part of its ongoing 2025/2026 enlistment exercise.
A statement from the Department of Public Relations at General Headquarters, Burma Camp, indicated that the continuation of the documentation and body selection process will take place exclusively at El-Wak Sports Stadium. The statement did not provide specific reasons for the consolidation.
“All recruitment centres in Accra for the 2025/2026 exercise except El-Wak Sports Stadium will be closed on Monday 24 November 2025,” the statement read. “All potential recruits yet to undergo documentation and body selection screening should report to El-Wak Sports Stadium for the continuation of the documentation and body selection process.”
The closure affects five other centres that were opened when recruitment resumed on Thursday, November 20, 2025, following a brief suspension. These centres included Nicholson Park in Burma Camp, one at the Air Force Base in Burma Camp, two centres at the Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) in Teshie, and another at the Eastern Naval Command in Tema.
The Armed Forces had expanded to multiple screening locations as part of enhanced safety measures following a tragic stampede at El-Wak Stadium on November 12, 2025, which claimed six lives and left 28 others injured. The incident occurred around 6:20 a.m. when approximately 21,000 applicants breached security protocols and rushed through the gates ahead of scheduled screening.
All six victims who died in the stampede were young women who had paid for recruitment forms and were attempting to secure entry into the stadium. Five people remained in the Intensive Care Unit at the 37 Military Hospital, while 12 others were in critical condition following the tragedy.
When recruitment resumed on November 20, GAF implemented several safety protocols including batching applicants into groups of 600 persons who received SMS notifications specifying their reporting dates, batch numbers, and designated centres. The decentralization to eight sub-centres across five locations was designed to prevent overcrowding and ensure controlled processing.
Senior military officers overseeing the recruitment at the time of the stampede were asked to step aside to allow for fair and transparent investigation. A Board of Inquiry was constituted to investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident. The new officers appointed to oversee the exercise include Commodore F.A. Nyarko as Director General of Human Resource, Colonel F. Kusi-Darko as Director of Manpower, and Colonel G.B. Eduah as Director of Information Technology.
President John Dramani Mahama visited the 37 Military Hospital following the stampede and directed a full investigation into the tragedy. The government pledged to offer automatic enlistment into GAF for one family member from each of the six victims, if they wish to join.
GAF has reiterated its commitment to assisting those affected by the stampede. All injured applicants continue to receive free medical care at the 37 Military Hospital until they fully recover. The Armed Forces announced it will provide a special recruitment package both to the injured once fully recovered and to the families of those who died.
The 2025/2026 recruitment exercise forms part of the government’s plan to recruit 12,000 personnel into the Ghana Armed Forces within the next three and a half years. Height requirements specify a minimum of 1.68 metres for males and 1.57 metres for females, while applicants for the Military Police must meet stricter standards of 1.75 metres for males and 1.70 metres for females.
Civil society groups, including the Concern Health Education Project, have called for urgent reforms in the recruitment process. Their proposals include maintaining institutional memory of previous recruitment exercises, compensating all victims and families from recruitment form proceeds, ensuring gender-sensitive processes with separate queues where necessary, documenting best practices, deploying ambulance and medical teams on-site for every recruitment, and auditing all recruitment form proceeds with public disclosure under the Right to Information Act (Act 989).
Human rights observers have described the El-Wak incident as a violation of the right to work, the right to dignity, and the right to life, as guaranteed under Article 6 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The tragedy has sparked nationwide debate about youth unemployment and the institutional capacity to manage large-scale recruitment exercises safely.
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