A statement issued by Mr. James Agalga, the Ranking Member for the Defence and Interior Committee of Parliament and NDC Member of Parliament (MP) Builsa North, copied to the Ghana News Agency said the NDC Minority in Parliament had taken note of publications in the 7th August, 2024, edition of the Ghanaian Times and Daily Graphic newspapers, advertising recruitments into the security services under the Ministry of the Interior.
It said the advertisements come on the back of a recent petition by the Minority to the Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to investigate their complaint of unequal and unfair recruitment of personnel into the security services based on a purported backlog.
It said whilst the CHRAJ was “seized” with the Minority’s petition, it came to the Minority as a surprise that the security services, under the Ministry of the Interior namely- the Ghana Police Service, the Ghana National Fire Service, Ghana Prisons Service and the Ghana Immigration Service- had all placed open advertisements which restrict the 2024 recruitment process to only persons who applied in 2021, at a time the legality of recruiting from a purported backlog was the subject of a petition before CHRAJ.
The statement said the advertisements were an attempt to stampede the CHRAJ in its investigations and to mislead Ghanaians into believing that the right thing was being done.
It said the development had confirmed their position that the reason why the recruitment was being shrouded in opacity was to create an unequal access to some people in the name of a so-called backlog, when no such backlog existed on the record.
“The NDC Minority is of the firm belief that the recalcitrant behaviour of the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia NPP Government in its quest to recruit personnel from a non-existent backlog is in furtherance of their ploy to recruit party vigilantes and goons into the security services purposely to help them achieve a favourable outcome in the upcoming 2024 general election,” the statement said.
It added: “Ghanaians have not forgotten how the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia NPP Government unleashed party vigilante and goons clothed in unform on innocent civilians during the 2020 general elections. Eight innocent Ghanaians were killed in the process, including the dastardly shootings at Techiman South.”
It said the peace and security of the country and the stability of its democracy would once again be in serious jeopardy should the Government be allowed to have its way through this ongoing restricted recruitment into the security services.
“The Minority hereby calls on the National Peace Council, the Christian Council of Ghana, the Office of the National Chief Imam, our development partners, civil society organisations and all lovers of peace to speak out before it is too late,” the statement added.
It said the Minority wishes to renew its call for a strict adherence to a balanced structuring of all the security services including the Ghana Armed Forces, through the creation of equal access and opportunity for all by the security services in terms of recruitment.
It said the NDC Minority reiterates that they were in principle not against the recruitment of the youth of this country into the security services.
“On the contrary, our objective is to guarantee equal access and opportunity for all regardless of one’s gender, ethnicity, religion or creed when it comes to recruitment into the security services,” the statement said.
