The Minority in Parliament has called for the immediate suspension of the ongoing recruitment exercise into Ghana’s security services, describing the process as flawed and unfair.
According to the Minority, the recruitment exercise lacks transparency and has left many applicants frustrated. They are also urging individuals who paid application fees during the process to demand refunds.
Speaking in an interview with JoyNews, the Ranking Member on Parliament’s Defence and Interior Committee, John Ntim Fordjour, strongly criticised those managing the recruitment process. He described the exercise as a “major recruitment scandal” and called for a bipartisan parliamentary investigation into the matter.
He insisted that all applicants who paid fees should be refunded without delay, regardless of their political affiliation.
“They should refund, as a matter of urgency, to everyone — whether they belong to the New Patriotic Party, the National Democratic Congress, or are apolitical. They should refund and dissolve this biggest recruitment scandal,” he said.
The Minority’s concerns follow revelations by the Interior Minister, Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka, that the security agencies have only about 5,000 vacancies available for more than 150,000 qualified applicants.
The disclosure highlights the intense competition for jobs within Ghana’s security services, including the Ghana Police Service, Ghana Immigration Service, Ghana National Fire Service, and Ghana Prisons Service.
Thousands of applicants have already been disqualified following the aptitude test stage of the recruitment process, leaving many disappointed and questioning the fairness and transparency of the system.
Rev. Fordjour argued that the centralized recruitment system should be scrapped entirely. He proposed that each security agency should instead conduct its own recruitment, while the ministry provides policy guidance and oversight to ensure fairness.
“They should immediately suspend the process, refund everyone’s money, and revert to a system where the security agencies themselves manage their recruitment while the ministry offers policy direction to ensure merit-based selection,” he said.
He also raised concerns about the conduct of the aptitude tests, stressing that applicants should be given clear conditions and proper feedback after the assessments.
According to him, candidates should have uninterrupted internet access for the full 45-minute test period and should receive transparent, possibly AI-generated, feedback immediately after completing the assessment.
The concerns raised by the Minority reflect the growing frustration among many young applicants who invested time and money into the recruitment process but were later disqualified.
With youth unemployment remaining a major challenge in the country, the Minority believes suspending the exercise, refunding application fees, and restructuring the recruitment system would help restore confidence in the process.
