Minister of the Interior, Henry Quartey, has threatened to disclose the names of National Democratic Congress (NDC) Members of Parliament who have facilitated the recruitment of individuals into the country’s security services.
This threat came as the minister responded to allegations by the Minority Leader, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, and other members of the Minority Caucus, who claimed that the government has allocated 30 recruitment slots in the country’s security services to parliamentary candidates of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).
While commending the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government’s efforts in recruiting for the country’s security services, Quartey suggested that NDC MPs had also been involved in recommending people for recruitment.
He added that if he is challenged, he would reveal the names provided by the NDC for recruitment. “When the NPP came into power, the total number of personnel at the Ghana Immigration Service was 6,000, but today, because of President Akufo-Addo, they are over 14,000. About 12,000 have been added to the Ghana Police Service.
“When you gaze into the eyes of the dead, you would see a ghost; I’m going to leave it here, I won’t go down that lane. But if they dare us, we will mention their names and the people they brought over the years, but we will leave that for now,” he said in an interview with Neat FM on Tuesday, May 21, 2024.
The Interior Minister emphatically denied the claim by NDC MPs that a secret recruitment process is underway, with NPP parliamentary candidates each receiving 30 slots.
He clarified that while recruitment is planned for this year, it has not yet commenced. Additionally, there will be no sale of application forms, as the government aims to address the backlog from previous recruitment cycles.
What Ato Forson said:
Minority Leader alleged during a news conference that all parliamentary candidates of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) have been allocated 30 slots each to select party loyalists and supporters to fill positions within the security services, including the Ghana Police Service and the Ghana Army.
Dr. Forson urged President Akufo-Addo and the government to halt what he described as undemocratic behaviour. He emphasised the need for transparency and fairness in the recruitment processes within the security sector.
“Notwithstanding the fact that the Minority raised serious concerns about the criteria adopted by the NPP government to recruit personnel into the security services, it has persisted in taking additional steps in the last few days that we have seen.
“The NDC Minority can authoritatively state that not long ago, the NPP government again illegally and fraudulently gave out 30 slots to all NPP parliamentary candidates across the country for recruitment into the security services,” he alleged.
He suggested that the move was part of attempts to manipulate the upcoming election; adding that NDC MPs are committed to upholding the integrity of the electoral process and preventing any actions that could undermine the country’s democracy.
Watch Henry Quartey’s remarks in the below: