Interior Minister commends Ghana Prisons Service for orderly recruitment process
The Minister for the Interior, Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak, has commended the Ghana Prisons Service for conducting a well-organised, humane and transparent recruitment screening exercise, describing the process as a clear departure from the chaotic scenes that have characterised similar exercises in the past.
He said the exercise demonstrated that with proper planning and coordination, security service recruitment could be conducted safely and with dignity.
“I am happy and very grateful to the service commanders for their cooperation and hard work.
You can see that a lot of energy and time has been put into the planning,” he said during an inspection tour of some screening centres in Accra yesterday.
The visit formed part of the ministry’s supervisory role to ensure that agreed procedures were strictly followed across all security services involved in the ongoing recruitment.
During the tour, it was observed that the applicants were seated comfortably, provided with water and snacks, and screened in an orderly manner, thereby eliminating the rush, overcrowding, and unfortunate incidents that had previously led to injuries and, in some cases, loss of lives.
Dignity, fairness
The minister praised the service commanders for holding the line despite pressure to revert to old practices, stressing that applicants who had sacrificed to serve the nation deserved to be treated with dignity and humility.
“This is in line with the President’s vision. Anyone willing to serve their country must be treated with respect, and that is what we are seeing now,” he said.
The minister urged officers involved in the exercise to maintain high standards as the recruitment progressed.
Warning against fraud
Alhaji Mohammed-Mubarak also issued a strong warning to individuals attempting to exploit applicants through recruitment-related fraud, particularly on social media and other digital platforms.
He revealed that arrests had already been made following intelligence-led monitoring by state security agencies.
“We are monitoring.
We are using the Police Intelligence Directorate, the CID, the National Intelligence Bureau and the National Signals Bureau.
All our apparatus are in full gear,” he said.
He cautioned applicants not to make payments or respond to messages outside the official recruitment portal, stressing that all communication and payments were done through a centralised digital system.
“Don’t let anybody deceive you by asking you to pay for medicals or claiming you have been shortlisted.
Everything will be communicated through the same portal you used for the application,” he said.
He explained that applicants could independently check and update the status of their applications on the portal without relying on intermediaries.
Digital reforms
The minister attributed the smooth process to reforms introduced after investigations revealed lapses in previous recruitment exercises.
He mentioned that the entire recruitment process had been decentralised and digitised- from application and information access to admission into training institutions—with documents downloadable by applicants and verified using barcodes to ensure authenticity.
“Nobody is going to call you to hand over any paper.
If there is a document, you download it yourself,” he emphasised.
Alhaji Mohammed-Mubarak assured applicants and the general public that the ministry would continue to ensure that the recruitment process remained transparent, fair and orderly from start to finish.
“We know people find it hard to believe that this can be done this way, but we are showing that it is possible, and the process will continue to the end,” he said.
