The Minister for the Interior, Muntaka Mohammed Mubarak, has mandated a massive expansion of recruitment centres for the security services, targeting up to 15 locations per high-demand city to disperse crowds and ensure applicant safety.
This unprecedented logistical response follows the devastating stampede at the El-Wak Sports Stadium on November 12, 2025, which tragically claimed six lives during a Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) exercise.
Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Monday, November 17, the minister detailed the new strategy, which prioritises safety and methodical processing over rapid intake, and confirmed the rescheduled recruitment exercise will now run until December 19.
Scaling Up: From Single Digits to Fifteen Sites
The core of the minister’s plan is to replace centralised, high-risk screening with a decentralised, managed system to prevent thousands of job seekers from congregating at a single location.
Alhaji Mubarak emphasised the necessity of this exponential scale-up, especially in population hubs like the Greater Accra Region, where job demand is highest:
“Depending on the number applied per region, we will have up to 15 centres per city… And we should go out and look for centres that will be able to adapt to our fitting.”
This new target represents a significant increase from previous recruitment operations. The Minister acknowledged past practices, noting:
“The police said in the past, they have done up to 6, 7, even 8 centres before. And I’m saying that literally for many of the places, we can do up to 10.”
To hit the target of 15 centres per city, which requires securing numerous large, adaptable public venues, the ministry is actively engaging other state institutions.
“I’m willing to write to my colleagues. So, for example, for Accra Sports Stadium, The Legon Sports Stadium, and for every space possible, so that we have at least 15 centres.”
This massive expansion means that a high-demand city like Accra could potentially screen 15,000 applicants daily (15 centres x 1,000 applicants/day), dramatically reducing the duress on the applicants.
Rigid Daily Quota Implemented
Crucially, the expansion is coupled with a strict cap on the volume of applicants processed at each site, ensuring no location becomes overwhelmed. This addresses the crowd surge identified as the direct cause of the El-Wak tragedy.
The minister confirmed the rigorous daily quota:
“ensure that no centre will operate more than 1,000 or will screen more than 1,000 individuals a day, and even with this 1,000, no centre should do more than 500 in the morning session and 500 in the afternoon session.”
This controlled, staggered intake is designed to manage the flow of individuals waiting outside the gates. The Minister stressed that even venues with a massive capacity, such as the 40,000-seater Accra Sports Stadium, must adhere to the 500-person session limit.
“They said, oh, because Accra Sports Stadium has a capacity of about 40,000, we can do about 1,000 in the morning. I said, no, we have to do 500. Because it is not about what the stadium can take, but it’s about the crowd that will be outside trying to get in.”
Inter-Agency Force for Crowd Management
The final component of the reform is mandatory inter-agency collaboration for effective crowd control, moving away from single-service accountability.
The Police Service, traditionally viewed as having superior crowd management experience, will be deployed to assist all recruiting agencies, including the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) and GAF.
“So, you know, when it comes to crowd control, police do a little better than some of the other services. So, we agree that when we are recruiting, even for immigration, if the numbers are large, the police will be there to assist. If they are doing that to the police, immigration, and others will be there to assist. So, we work as a team and not say, oh, because it’s for policing, let them handle it themselves. And then, it shouldn’t affect all of us.”
The objective is to ensure the entire recruitment period, which resumes today and lasts until December 19, proceeds “without much duress on the applicants,” restoring public confidence in state-run employment processes.
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