By Issah Olegor
A fresh twist has emerged in the ongoing controversy surrounding recruitment into the security services, as internal party arrangements within the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) appear to be moving toward allocating opportunities to party loyalists—amid mounting pressure from frustrated grassroots supporters and earlier government insistence on merit-based recruitment.
The development follows weeks of tension triggered by the 2025/2026 security services recruitment exercise, which attracted an overwhelming 500,000 applications for a limited number of positions across the Ghana Police Service, Ghana Immigration Service, Ghana National Fire Service and Ghana Prisons Service.
According to impeccable sources, while Ghanaians were observing the long Sallah break, the NDC leadership at the constituency level was busily compiling a list of 5,000 applicants to fill the new space recruitment from 5,000 to 10,000. The list was allegedly submitted to the Interior Minister on Monday for processing.
At the initial stages of the controversy, the Minister for the Interior, Muntaka Mohammed Mubarak who had come under an attack, strongly defended the recruitment process, insisting it would be strictly merit-based and free from political interference.
He introduced online aptitude testing and centralized systems aimed at eliminating the long-standing “protocol” system—where party influence often determined recruitment outcomes.
Muntaka also justified the strict screening process by pointing to existing challenges within the services.
“We are having a challenge with people with mental and drug issues in the service,” he stated during a media briefing, explaining why tougher recruitment standards were necessary.
However, the introduction of aptitude tests led to the disqualification of hundreds of thousands of applicants, including many NDC grassroots supporters who had expected to benefit from the party’s victory in the 2024 general elections.
The situation quickly escalated into anger within the party base, with many “footsoldiers” accusing the government of abandoning loyal members.
The controversy deepened further following comments attributed to the Interior Minister during an interview on Adom FM, where he was reported to have suggested that thousands of NDC supporters had progressed in the recruitment process.
Although he later denied making definitive claims and clarified that his remarks had been speculative, the damage had already been done, fuelling mistrust and confusion among party supporters.
As frustrations grew, the National Chairman of the NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, stepped in to address party members during his nationwide “Thank You Tour.” While attempting to calm tensions, he made remarks that drew mixed reactions.
“If 500,000 persons are recruited into the Police Service, there won’t be any thieves,” he said, in what many interpreted as a blunt reflection of the country’s unemployment crisis and the overwhelming number of job seekers.
He further added, “If all the 500,000 applicants become police officers, where will they find thieves to arrest?”—a statement that some critics argued indirectly labelled unemployed youth as potential criminals, further inflaming sentiments among sections of the public.
Behind the scenes, pressure continued to mount on the government to find a political solution to the growing unrest within the party’s grassroots.
That pressure appears to have culminated in a high-level intervention by President John Dramani Mahama, who reportedly convened a meeting with heads of the security agencies, the Interior Minister, and other top government officials to review the recruitment process and its fallout.
Following the meeting, the President directed a significant expansion of recruitment numbers—from 20,000 to 40,000 over four years—in a move widely interpreted as an attempt to ease tensions and create more opportunities for party activists.
Party Allocations
Even more significantly, internal party communication now suggests that the NDC is taking steps to directly manage part of the recruitment allocation process.
Information circulating within party circles suggests that approximately 15 slots per constituency have been allocated under this arrangement, with specific quotas reportedly reserved for political officeholders—such as Members of Parliament and Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs).
In constituencies where the sitting MP is not from the NDC, those slots were reassigned to party executives, particularly constituency chairpersons.
Critically, these allocations are reportedly targeted at individuals who may have failed the aptitude test, a development that has raised fresh concerns about the integrity of the recruitment process.
The emerging arrangement appears to represent a significant shift from the government’s earlier stance of eliminating protocol and enforcing strictly merit-based recruitment.
Political observers say the move reflects the difficult balancing act facing the NDC administration—between maintaining professional standards in the security services and managing the expectations of party loyalists who played key roles in securing electoral victory.
