The Minister for the Interior, Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak, has called on young people seeking to join Ghana’s security services to remain calm and exercise restraint amid frustrations surrounding the ongoing recruitment exercise.
Speaking at a media briefing on Wednesday, March 11, the minister acknowledged the disappointment among many applicants but stressed that the limited number of available positions means not everyone can be recruited at once.
According to him, the high volume of applicants competing for a small number of vacancies makes it necessary for authorities to adopt strict and objective screening procedures to select the most qualified candidates.
“I know a lot of young people may be disappointed, but they should exercise restraint. This is not going to be the first and last recruitment that the government is going to be having,” he said.
Mr. Mohammed-Mubarak explained that the goal of the recruitment process is to ensure professionalism across the country’s security agencies, including the police and immigration services. He emphasized that the nation requires competent and disciplined personnel rather than simply filling positions with any available applicants.
“The issue is about joblessness and not an issue about scarcity. And all of us know you want to get a professional police officer. You want to get a professional immigration officer. You just don’t want any person to go in,” he noted.
The minister also highlighted the importance of the screening process in identifying and filtering out candidates with serious challenges that could affect their performance in the services.
He revealed that authorities have had to deal with cases involving personnel with drug abuse problems and mental health issues, making it necessary to tighten recruitment standards.
“We are having a challenge with people with mental issues in the service. We have people with drug issues in the service. All these things are things that you use, and through that, some people will fall along the way to enable us to get the best of the best,” he explained.
Despite the current disappointment among applicants, Mr. Mohammed-Mubarak assured the public that more opportunities would be created in the future as the government works to expand employment prospects for young people.
He added that John Mahama has indicated that additional recruitment exercises into the country’s security services will be undertaken as the national economy improves.