Wonder Madilo recommends national service approach to protect lives in recruitment drives

Wonder Madilo, a member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Communications Team, has called on the government to adopt a national service-style recruitment system to prevent tragic accidents during future security service enlistments.

Speaking on JoyNews’ AM Show on Thursday, November 13, Madilo said the recent stampede at El-Wak Sports Stadium highlights the urgent need for a more organised and efficient recruitment process. The incident, which occurred on Wednesday, November 12, claimed the lives of six job seekers and left several others injured.

Describing the tragedy as deeply concerning, Madilo criticised the poor management of recruitment exercises, which he said continues to put applicants at risk.
“On this recruitment business, we have been losing lives—not always just around the recruitment itself. Even when they are enlisted and go for training, we hear about incidents here and there. But this one is of much more concern, and it raises the issue of the high level of unemployment in our country,” he stated.

He also condemned the conditions at the stadium, where thousands of young people queued for hours under the sun.

“We have been seeing this year after year when recruitment is ongoing, but yesterday’s numbers were terrible. You have people under the sun, with no proper shade. If you’ve been to El-Wak before, you know it’s just an open space, and even where there’s shade, it’s very limited. Some people were climbing and scaling walls,” he noted.

He proposed a system similar to the Ghana National Service Scheme, where applicants submit online applications, receive approval, and book screening appointments on designated dates.
“Going forward this has been my position: the enlistment process should not wait two or three years before announcing to a country of 33 million people, with a youth population of about 60 percent, who are willing and ready to go into the military to gather at such a certain point just because of enlistment. We all see how National Service conducts its recruitment—you apply, get approved, and then book an appointment online,” he explained.

Madilo added, “If you’re in charge of the database, you know you can only process about 100 people a day. Once the slots are full, others can book another day. That way, you control the number of people who gather for body selection and other screening processes,” he added.

He stressed that a structured, technology-driven system would prevent overcrowding, safeguard lives, and ensure fairness and transparency in security service recruitment.