The Minister of Interior, Honorable Henry Quartey, has vehemently denied recent allegations made by the Minority Caucus in Parliament, claiming that the government is offering 30 recruitment slots in the security services to each Member of Parliament (MP) from the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
The Ayawaso Central Member of Parliament, in a statement, expressed his disappointment in the dissemination of what he termed as “palpable lies,” particularly coming from the Minority Leader, who is also a former Deputy Minister of Interior.
“But I want to say on authority and I want to say again on authority that giving 30 slots to MPs is false. It is not true. It has never happened before and I am surprised that they want to go on this tangent”.
Henry Quartey, Minister of Interior
In his statement, Honorable Quartey strongly emphasized the impracticality and inaccuracy of the claims, stressing that it was unfortunate for the Minority Caucus in Parliament to make such unfounded allegations against the incumbent government.
He emphasized that the current Members of Parliament of the Majority Caucus in Parliament number about 137, thereby making it impossible for the government to offer each one of them 30 slots of personnel in the security agencies.
The Minister of Interior also underscored the logistical impossibility of the Minority’s claim, asserting that the purported allocation of 30 slots per Member of Parliament of the ruling party would result in a figure far exceeding the recruitment clearance provided by the Ministry of Finance.
Addressing the recruitment strategy, the Minister of Interior, Honorable Henry Quartey revealed that the Ministry is revising its approach to avoid unnecessary financial burdens on applicants.
He explained that in the last couple of years, people have gone to buy forms, and for some reason, they could not gain admission into the security and intelligence agencies.
According to him, in light of such a situation, the government thought it wise that it didn’t have to advertise anymore for people to continuously pay monies due to the limited number of personnel the clearance would allow the various security agencies to recruit.
He thus urged the Minority to applaud the government for adopting an innovative strategy to get qualified Ghanaian nationals who had previously applied to the security agencies another chance to realise their dreams.
Government Commits to Transparency
Furthermore, Honourable Henry Quartey clarified that even though the government has commenced the recruitment process, the process is neither secretive nor biased towards any political party.
He underscored the government’s commitment to adhere to every standard and establish rules and procedures required for the recruitment of personnel into the country’s security agencies.
Honourable Quatery, while expressing the government’s commitment towards transparency in the security services recruitment process, emphasized that as soon as the various agencies are done with the internal process, they will publish the eligibility criteria to the general public.
He expressed optimism that such a process would be done by the close of the week, underscoring the government’s commitment to the principle of transparency and the rule of law.
The Minister of Interior, Honorable Henry Quartey concluded his remarks by affirming his ministry and the government’s commitment to a transparent and equitable recruitment process, ensuring that eligibility criteria will be publicly available and accessible.
He urged the general public and the media to verify facts before spreading information, to maintain the integrity of public discourse and trust in government operations.
The Minority Caucus in Parliament led by its leader, Honorable Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, in an earlier statement, accused the incumbent government of an alleged scheme where each Member of Parliament of the ruling party purportedly received 30 slots for enlistment into various security agencies.
Expressing concerns over the issue, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, the Ajuamko-Enyan Essiam lawmaker warned of potential repercussions if such a scheme is allowed to manifest.
