The Minority in Parliament has called on the Minister for the Interior, Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak, to immediately refund the GH¢220 application fees collected from hundreds of thousands of young Ghanaians who applied for recruitment into the country’s security services.
Addressing a press conference in Parliament on Thursday, the Ranking Member on Parliament’s Defence and Interior Committee, John Ntim Fordjour, accused the government of misleading applicants and running what he described as a scam recruitment process.
“Refund the monies to applicants of your scam recruitment,” Fordjour said, insisting that the affected youth should not be forced to bear the financial cost of what the Minority considers a flawed recruitment exercise.
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The controversy follows revelations that more than 506,000 applicants applied to join various security services under the Ministry of the Interior, but only 5,000 recruits are expected to be selected.
According to Fordjour, the huge disparity between the number of applicants and the available positions has left many young people feeling misled and exploited.
“These young men and women believed they were being offered a genuine opportunity to serve their country and secure employment, only to discover that the exercise was structured in a way that dashed their hopes,” he said.
The recruitment exercise covered agencies including the Ghana Police Service, Ghana Immigration Service, Ghana National Fire Service, and the Ghana Prisons Service.
Fordjour argued that the recruitment exercise generated over GH¢111 million, describing the process as exploitative.
“Over 506,000 applicants were made to pay GH¢220 each. This means government generated over GH¢111 million from this recruitment exercise, yet only 5,000 people are expected to be recruited,” he stated.
He also alleged that the online aptitude tests conducted as part of the process were plagued with technical challenges, which led to the disqualification of several candidates.
The Minority Caucus is also demanding a bipartisan parliamentary investigation into the entire recruitment process.
Fordjour said the call aligns with earlier demands by the Minority Leader who has raised concerns about transparency and fairness in the exercise.
“We reiterate our call for an independent parliamentary probe into this centralized recruitment process to determine how such a flawed system was allowed to proceed,” Fordjour said.
According to the Minority, the government must demonstrate accountability by ensuring that applicants who feel shortchanged are compensated.
“These applicants should not be forced to carry the financial burden of what appears to be a poorly managed recruitment process,” Fordjour stressed.
He maintained that refunding the application fees would be the first step toward restoring public trust in the country’s recruitment systems.