The blood spilled at the El-Wak Sports Stadium in Accra today, Wednesday, November 12, 2025, is not merely a tragedy of crowd control; it is the visceral consequence of a protracted, unaddressed national economic failure. It is the fatal symptom of a system that has utterly failed to provide its most dynamic demographic with the basic dignity of work.
For decades, the UNADDRESSED UNEMPLOYMENT PROBLEM has festered, a chronic cancer on our national psyche. With youth unemployment standing at approximately 32.1%
according to Ghana Statistical Service (2024, Labour Data), the hope of securing a few thousand military enlistment slots transforms an orderly process into a lethal life-and-death lottery. The stampede was not an accident; it was an economic eruption – a chaotic, desperate rush for the only perceived sanctuary from joblessness.
This crisis renders the much-touted 24-Hour Economy campaign not just an unfulfilled promise, but a scandal of rhetoric over reality. John Mahama’s administration’s flagship pledge was the creation of millions of shifts in industry and logistics, yet the evidence of its failure is stark and unforgiving:
The Political Promise spoke of a 24-Hour Economy that would secure decent, sustainable civilian jobs; the Tragic Reality is a 24-Hour Crisis where youths risk their lives before dawn for a single, scarce state job.
The Campaign envisioned the Expansion of the Private Sector through incentives and reliable infrastructure; the Aftermath reveals the Contraction of Hope, forcing seven out of ten unemployed persons – our youth – to seek refuge in the military barracks.
The failure to establish a robust, job-rich economy has turned our nation’s youth into a demographic time bomb. When legitimate avenues for economic self-determination vanish, the most disciplined, qualified young people are driven to overwhelm the gates of the security services, viewing the uniform as the only reliable escape from the market’s chronic poverty.
The nation must move past the immediate blame for the physical stampede and condemn the structural incompetence that created the desperate hunger for a uniform in the first place. The youth sought the dignity of work, and instead, they found the lethal chaos born of governmental inaction.
El-Wak is a chilling national verdict: Until the unaddressed unemployment problem is solved through honest, structural reform, every recruitment drive remains a potential death trap, and every policy promise remains a source of devastating cynicism.
J. A. Sarbah
