International corporate lawyer and entrepreneur Victoria Bright is calling for stronger accountability across Ghana’s public institutions following Wednesday’s deadly stampede at the El-Wak Sports Stadium that claimed the lives of six young women during the Ghana Armed Forces recruitment exercise.
Speaking on Newsfile on Saturday, Lawyer Bright said the tragedy reflects a deeper national failure to enforce responsibility and discipline within state systems.
“We need people to become more principled in our society and to take responsibility, and if they are not taking responsibility, then they should be fired,” she stressed. “You either go voluntarily or you’re fired. And we have to be very decisive about that because people get away with far too much, and that’s why we don’t have a culture of accountability in this country.”
She warned that Ghana cannot progress if public officials continue to operate without consequences. According to her, this mindset “permeates across all systems” and has allowed complacency and negligence to become normalised.
“This society cannot grow if we continue like this,” she added, arguing that the country risks regression if decisive reforms are not undertaken. She also noted that there are “a whole load of people out there who just think business as usual” and resist measures meant to strengthen accountability.
Her comments follow widespread public outrage over the chaotic recruitment process, which left several others injured and raised fresh questions about safety protocols, crowd management, and oversight in national security enlistments.
The Ghana Armed Forces and government agencies have come under intense scrutiny as calls grow for a thorough investigation and institutional reforms to prevent similar tragedies.
Victoria Bright insisted that firm action, rather than rhetoric, is needed to rebuild public trust.