The Minority in Parliament has launched an attack on the government’s ongoing security services recruitment exercise, labeling the process a “predatory milking scheme” designed to exploit the desperation of Ghana’s unemployed youth.
Leading the charge, John Ntim Fordjour, Member of Parliament for Assin South and Ranking Member on the Defence and Interior Committee, addressed the Press, demanding an immediate cessation of the exercise, a full refund for disqualified applicants, and an independent bipartisan inquiry.
Hon. Ntim Fordjour alleged that the Ministry of Interior has effectively “trapped” over 500,000 applicants by strategically raising the age limit from 25 to 35 years. This policy shift, he argues, was not motivated by inclusivity but by a calculated desire to widen the net for revenue generation.
With each applicant required to pay GH¢220 for an application voucher, the Minority calculates that the government has accrued over GH¢110 million from a process that offers only 5,000 available slots.
”This is arguably the biggest recruitment scam in our nation’s history,” Fordjour stated. “The government is more interested in balancing its books through the pockets of the poor than in providing genuine security opportunities for the Ghanaian youth.”
The Ranking Member questioned the ethics of collecting massive sums of money from hundreds of thousands of citizens when the vacancy-to-applicant ratio is nearly 1 to 100. He described the financial burden placed on the youth as “unconscionable” given the current economic climate and the high rate of youth unemployment.
To address these grievances, the Minority is pushing for a bipartisan parliamentary investigation into the management of the funds, an immediate refund to all candidates who were not shortlisted, and full disclosure of the selection criteria to ensure the process is not reserved for the politically connected.
Story By: Eugenia Ewoenam Osei
