Secret Recruitment of Security Personnel Poses Danger to Ghana’s Peace and Stability – Minority

The Minority in Parliament has raised concerns about the secret recruitment of security officers, warning that it poses a serious threat to Ghana’s peace and stability. The Minority condemned the action and threatened to summon the Interior Minister, Henry Quartey, before the House over what it deems as covert recruitment into the security services.

This follows reports of a planned recruitment of 11,000 personnel from a backlog of applicants accumulated over the years. The Minority contends that a press release from the Ghana Police Service suggests there is no such backlog requiring recruitment.

Addressing Members of the parliamentary Press Corps, Deputy Minority Leader, Emmanuel Armah Kofi-Buah, emphasized that the recruitment process must be transparent and fair. He argued that the police had cleared all applicants from the 2021-2022 recruitment exercise, and any new recruitment should require fresh applications with clear eligibility criteria.

The Deputy Leader called for advertisements that outline the eligibility criteria, as was done during the NDC era, to ensure fairness and transparency.

“This is documentary evidence. They are saying that the entire recruitment process for the 2021 to 2022 period has come to an end. The idea of a backlog implies starting a recruitment process and being unable to complete it, leaving some applicants outstanding. But the police have stated that they had cleared all applicants,” Armah Buah explained.

The Ranking of Defence and Interior Committee, James Agalga said, “What this means is that those who were not shortlisted and issued admission letters had not met the eligibility criteria for recruitment. So, the 2021-2022 recruitment exercise has concluded. We have been emphasizing that there is no backlog.”

“This is not the first time the security services under the Ministry of the Interior will recruit. During the NDC era, recruitments were preceded by advertisements capturing the eligibility criteria. We urge the Interior Minister to adhere to the principles of fairness and transparency and ensure an advertisement is made,” he added.

Mr Agalaga noted that, “He [Interior Minister] will have to be summoned to appear before the House and explain why the recruitment process under his watch is shrouded in secrecy.”

Copy of Full Statement Below

MINORITY CALLS ON GOVERNMENT TO HALT IRREGULAR AND OPAQUE RECRUITMENT INTO SECURITY SERVICES

Date: 10^TH JULY, 2024

1. The Minority Caucus in Parliament has noted with concern a banner headline news report in The Chronicle newspaper of Monday, 8^th July 2024 that government is about to commence recruitment of some 11,000 personnel into the security services.
2. The report said 3,000 personnel will be recruited into the Ghana Immigration Service, 4,000 into the Ghana Police Service, 2000 into the Ghana National Fire Service, 1,500 into Ghana Prisons Service and 500 into the Narcotics Control Commission. It further said, “Since this is a backlog the Ministry of Interior is going to work with, there would be no advertisement in the national dailies calling on qualified applicants to apply to join the security services”.
3. The NDC Minority is shockingly alarmed at the said publication 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. It would be recalled that the NDC Minority raised concerns about similar secret recruitment of NPP footsoldiers, including its thugs, into the security services as part of its election-rigging machine for the 2020 general elections. These irregular recruitments are characterized by procedural breaches and nepotism.
4. On 20^th May 2024, the Minority Caucus addressed a press conference in Parliament on government’s recruitment of NPP thugs into the security services to further its rigging agenda of the 2024 elections. At that press conference, the Minority raised several concerns over the propriety of the clandestine recruitment, procedural breaches, nepotism, lack of transparency and fairness, and the implications for the peace and stability of our country ahead of the crucial general elections in December.
5. We then highlighted credible information suggesting that the ruling NPP was manipulating recruitment processes to favour its parliamentary candidates with 30 slots allocated to each of them for the various security agencies including the Police Service, the Immigration Service, the Fire Service and the Prison Service.
6. The news 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.
7. How does the clearing of this so-called backlog ensure that persons who might have exceeded the cut-off age for recruitment or may have developed certain health-related issues, are not recruited into the security services?
8. Since when did the government block recruitment into the security services by restricting access for only a select group in the name of a so-called backlog?
9. Why is the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government obsessed with opaqueness and the politicisation and bastardisation of strategic state institutions?

10. 

For the records, there is no backlog to be recruited into the security services.

10. This is borne out by the 7^th July 2023, press release issued by the Public Affairs Directorate of the Police Headquarters, signed by Assistant Commissioner of Police, Grace Ansah-Akrofi, under the heading POLICE CONCLUDE ITS 2021-2022 RECRUITMENT EXERCISE.

It said in the two-paragraph statement as follows:

11. “The Ghana Police Service brings to an end its 2021-2022 recruitment process with an invitation to the last batch of successful candidates to report for medical screening and training.
12. We wish all the candidates well as they begin the process of becoming part of our noble institution charged with the constitutional mandate of maintaining law and order in the country”.
13. That press release exposes the dishonesty on the part of those who are forcing the false backlog narrative down the throat of the good people of Ghana. We therefore call on the Minister of the Interior to immediately advertise and subject any planned recruitment into the security services to the established and time-honoured transparent processes.
14. In the interest of transparency and accountability, the Minority insists that any attempt to recruit personnel into the security agencies under the Ministry of the Interior must be preceded by an advertisement which clearly spells out the eligibility criteria in order to allow for equal access and opportunity to all Ghanaians.
15. The NDC Minority believes that all Ghanaians regardless of gender, tribe, political lineage, religion or creed deserve a fair and equal opportunity as far as employment into state institutions is concerned.
16. 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 the recruitment into the security services.
17. 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. Any recruitment into the security services must therefore be done through a transparent, fair and just process in order to safeguard the peace and stability of our democracy.

                         —–END—–   

HON. EMMANUEL ARMAH-KOFI BUAH

DEPUTY MINORITY LEADER

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Source: Felix Nyaaba // expressnewsghana.com

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