GAF warns non-applicants of arrest as recruitment exercise resumes

The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) has cautioned the public that non-applicants who appear at its recruitment centres when the ongoing exercise resumes in the Greater Accra Region on Thursday, November 20, 2025, risk arrest.

The warning follows the temporary suspension of the recruitment process after a stampede on Wednesday, November 12, which claimed six lives.

According to a citinewsroom report on November 18, Director-General of Public Affairs at the GAF, Captain Veronica Adzo Arhin, said stringent crowd-control measures have been introduced to ensure order and prevent a recurrence of last week’s tragedy.

Three ICU patients now stable - GAF updates on El-Wak stampede victims

“If you are a non-applicant, we appeal to the public not to try coming here. We will not allow you in. If it becomes necessary to arrest you and hand you over to the police, we will do so. So, we request that the public not accompany applicants,” she cautioned.

She added that military police personnel will be deployed to ensure only individuals with valid application details gain entry to the centres.

“We have beefed up our numbers. Even if you are an applicant and you come at the wrong time, I am sure that could even lead to your disqualification,” Captain Arhin warned.

Commenting on the deadly incident, she expressed concern that the cause still remains unclear, especially since this year’s recruitment has been decentralised to all 16 regions for the first time.

“We are still at a loss as to what led to the stampede. We have had large numbers before, just like this one, but there has always been some orderliness,” she noted.

Refund applicants or the victims' blood will be on your hands – Prophet Oduro to GAF

Captain Arhin said the GAF will await the findings of the Board of Inquiry before making further comments.

“I wouldn’t want to pre-empt the findings, so I would rather hold on until the report comes out, so we can tell what really went wrong. We have always been doing this, and everything used to be at El-Wak,” she added.

MRA/EB

Malik Basintale breaks silence on stroke rumours