The Minority Caucus in Parliament has denounced the government’s planned secret recruitment of 11,000 personnel into the various security agencies for lack of transparency and potential political motivations.
The Caucus described the approach, which excludes public advertisement and claims to be clearing a backlog of applicants, as irregular and opaque.
The process, they said, is a tactic to swell the security agencies with ruling party loyalists ahead of the December presidential and parliamentary elections.
“The NDC Minority is shockingly alarmed and takes strong exception to the government’s planned irregular recruitment into the country’s security services ahead of the 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections.”
“This move, reminiscent of similar secret recruitments before the 2020 elections, raises serious concerns about procedural breaches and nepotism,” the Caucus said.
Addressing a press conference on Wednesday 20th May 2024, Deputy Minority Leader, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah accused the government of previously recruiting NPP-affiliated individuals into the security services as part of its election-rigging strategy.
He said, “The report that there will be no advertisement for qualified persons to apply because the government was recruiting from a backlog of previous applicants is disingenuous and untenable.”
“There is no backlog to be recruited into the security services. This claim is refuted by a press release from the Police Headquarters on 7th July 2023, which concluded the 2021-2022 recruitment exercise.”
According to him, any recruitment process should be open, transparent, and fair, insisting on public advertisements detailing eligibility criteria to ensure equal access for all Ghanaians, regardless of their background.
“The integrity of our security services and the trust of the people of Ghana in our institutions depend on our collective commitment to transparency and fairness, especially in recruitment.”
“The Minister of the Interior must desist from this opaque and irregular recruitment with barely six months to the crucial 2024 general elections. It is important to restore the integrity, as well as the confidence and trust of Ghanaians in our security services,” he stated.
The reported recruitment will include 3,000 personnel for the Ghana Immigration Service, 4,000 for the Ghana Police Service, 2,000 for the Ghana National Fire Service, 1,500 for the Ghana Prisons Service, and 500 for the Narcotics Control Commission.