President John Dramani Mahama has ordered a significant expansion of the ongoing recruitment exercise into the country’s security services, directing that the number of personnel enlisted over the next four years be doubled to 40,000.
The directive, announced on Monday following a high-level meeting at the Presidency, sharply escalates the government’s initial target and signals a major push to bolster the manpower of the nation’s security agencies.
According to a statement from the Presidency Communications Directorate, the President received a briefing on the current recruitment process before issuing the new instructions.
“Following a briefing on the process, the President has directed that the number of men and women to be recruited to the various security agencies should be increased from twenty thousand (20,000) to forty thousand (40,000) over a four-year period,” the statement read.
The meeting was attended by the Chief of Staff, the National Security Coordinator, the Inspector General of Police, and the heads of the Prisons Service, Fire Service, Immigration Service, and Narcotics Control Commission, among other top officials.
A “Huge Challenge” of Applicants
The President’s order comes less than a week after the Minister for the Interior, Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak, laid bare the immense pressure on the system. Speaking to Parliament on March 11, the Minister revealed that while over 105,000 applicants have already qualified for medical screening, the government could initially afford to enlist only 5,000 this year due to the current fiscal constraints.
Mr. Mohammed-Mubarak explained that out of a total applicant pool of over 400,000—comprising 75,000 tertiary graduates and 330,000 WASSCE holders—more than 105,000 successfully passed the online aptitude tests and advanced to the medical stage.
“We still have 105,000 who have qualified for medicals. In reality, the total number we can take after medicals is 5,000, so we still face a huge challenge,” the Minister had stated, appealing for patience from the thousands of unsuccessful applicants.
At the time, he assured the public that the government would retain the data of qualified candidates for future exercises, with the next recruitment round anticipated in 2026 as the country is projected to exit its International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.
Questions of Funding and Fairness
The President’s new directive effectively quadruples the annual intake target, requiring an average of 10,000 new personnel per year over the next four years—double the figure previously cited for 2025. The announcement raises immediate questions about the fiscal implications of such a rapid expansion, given the economic constraints outlined by the Interior Minister just days earlier.
The Presidency’s statement did not provide details on how the 40,000 recruits will be distributed across the various security agencies, nor did it specify a funding mechanism for the ambitious target.
However, the President also emphasized the need for integrity in the process. He has charged the heads of the security agencies to ensure that the recruitment drive is conducted with “transparency and fairness,” a directive aimed at preventing the allegations of bribery and nepotism that have plagued such exercises in the past.
