Gov’t imposes strict 1,000-applicant cap as security recruitment resumes

Ghana’s Interior Minister, Muntaka Mohammed Mubarak, has unveiled sweeping reforms to the national security services recruitment process following the stampede at the El-Wak Sports Stadium that resulted in multiple fatalities and raised urgent concerns about safety and crowd management.

The new framework drastically changes how applicants will be screened across the country, placing strict limits on attendance and expanding screening locations to prevent overcrowding.

A central pillar of the revised system is a firm cap on the number of candidates allowed at any centre, with no more than 1,000 applicants to be processed per day. The restructuring is designed to prioritise human safety above administrative speed as the exercise resumes nationwide.

The Interior Minister outlined plans to significantly increase screening centres, especially in regions with historically high application numbers. The Ghana Armed Forces, Police Service, and Immigration Service will adopt a broader distribution model, with some cities expected to operate up to 8 screening points to reduce congestion and manage traffic flow more effectively.

Authorities are now identifying larger, more suitable venues to accommodate the spread-out approach. Facilities such as national stadiums, university sports complexes, and other expansive spaces are being considered to make the exercise more orderly. The aim is to avoid a repeat of the conditions that led to the El-Wak incident, where massive crowds converged on limited space.

The Minister emphasized that each centre will process only 500 applicants in the morning and 500 in the afternoon, ensuring controlled entry and movement. This applies regardless of the size or sitting capacity of the venue. The focus, he said, is not how many people the facility can hold but the crowd that builds up outside before entry begins—an oversight that proved deadly at El-Wak.

Security agencies have also been instructed to adhere strictly to rotational batch systems, with reporting details sent directly to applicants through SMS. This is to avoid situations where thousands of hopefuls arrive unexpectedly on the same day.

Another key component of the reform is cross-agency collaboration. Crowd control duties will no longer fall solely on the recruiting agency present at each centre. Instead, security services will support one another depending on applicant volume and location. Police officers will be deployed to assist immigration exercises where necessary, and vice versa, creating a nationwide collaborative force to maintain discipline and protect lives.

This unified approach, according to the Interior Ministry, is essential to maintaining order and preventing lapses caused by overwhelmed personnel.

The revamped recruitment process is expected to run until December 19, 2025, giving sufficient time for all applicants to be screened under the new measures. The reforms reflect the government’s commitment to ensuring that such a tragedy never occurs again. Families affected by the stampede have been assured that accountability measures are in motion, even as national attention shifts toward preventing future incidents.

In reshaping the recruitment system, the ministry hopes to set a new standard for public safety—one that balances access to employment opportunities with the duty to protect every Ghanaian life.