Accra: The New Patriotic Party Minority Caucus in Parliament has condemned the government's recruitment exercise into the security services, describing it as an alleged 'Ponzi scheme' and a 'recruitment scam.' At a press conference held in Parliament, Reverend John Ntim Fordjour, the Ranking Member on the Defence and Interior Committee of Parliament, expressed concerns over the impact of the exercise on hundreds of thousands of hopeful applicants.
According to Ghana News Agency, Reverend Fordjour criticized the government's decision to recruit only 5,000 applicants out of over 506,000 who applied, suggesting it was 'akin to a Ponzi scheme, criminally crafted to defraud over 500,000 unemployed innocent Ghanaian youth.' He questioned the rationale behind encouraging such a large number of applicants if only a small fraction could be accommodated.
The Minority Caucus has urged for an independent bipartisan parliamentary probe into the entire centralized recruitment process. Additionally, they are demanding that the government refund the application fees of GHS220 per applicant to all those disqualified by what they describe as a questionable recruitment process. Reverend Fordjour emphasized that these applicants should not bear the financial burden of what appears to be a mismanaged and exploitative recruitment exercise.
Meanwhile, Alhaji Mubarak Mohammed Muntaka, the Minister for the Interior, announced on Wednesday that only 5,000 applicants would be recruited into the various security services in the first phase of the ongoing recruitment exercise. He cited fiscal limitations as the reason for the limited number of recruits, explaining that the recruitment process involves body selection and documentation.
Alhaji Muntaka further clarified that after the initial documentation phase, less than 30,000 applicants were disqualified. This leaves approximately 400,000 candidates who are now set to undergo aptitude tests and medical exams.