The Minister for the Interior, Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak, has said the government would readily expand recruitment into Ghana’s security services if economic conditions allowed.
Speaking at a media briefing on Wednesday, March 11, on the ongoing security service recruitment exercise, the minister acknowledged frustrations among young people who have criticised the limited number of available positions.
Government, he explained, is aware of the high interest among youth to join the security agencies, but financial constraints make it impossible to absorb everyone at once.
“If the resources were there, I would have been the happiest person if we were able to recruit about half a million more security personnel,” he said.
Mr. Mohammed-Mubarak noted that the current strength of Ghana’s security services remains below 100,000 personnel across the major agencies.
The Ghana Police Service alone has just over 49,000 officers, while the Ghana Immigration Service, Ghana National Fire Service, and Ghana Prisons Service together account for several thousand more.
However, he stressed that the wage bill for these personnel already stands at about GH¢13 billion, making large-scale recruitment financially difficult under current economic conditions.
“Let’s be practical. If you already have about 49,000 police officers, can you suddenly add another 130,000? The economy must be able to sustain such numbers,” he said.
The minister appealed to young people to understand the government’s limitations in expanding recruitment at once.
He added that while not everyone can be absorbed immediately, the government will continue exploring programmes and future opportunities to gradually bring more young people into the security services.
