No new security companies as ministry streamlines activities
The Ministry of the Interior has suspended the issuance of new licences to private security companies with immediate effect until work is completed on the building of a comprehensive database of existing ones.
In addition, the ministry has begun discussions with the Police Administration for a uniformed training programme for all future security companies.
When the new arrangement comes into force, all those already employed by private security companies will be required to go through retraining and vetting for certification.
The Minister of the Interior, Mr Mark Owen Woyongo, who made this known in an interview with the Daily Graphic, explained that the new measures had been necessitated by concerns raised by the public on the conduct, competence and background of private security personnel.
Records
He said currently the ministry had no records on the number of security companies operating in the country, a situation which he said did not augur well for the effective monitoring and evaluation of the operations of those companies.
Public resentment against the performance of private security personnel have ranged from inappropriate training, poor remuneration, dubious characters, to poor educational background.
Training programme
Mr Woyongo explained that under the new arrangement, the ministry planned to standardise the training programme after rigorous vetting of applicants, adding, “This will be conducted by the National Security, the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) and the Ghana Police Service.”
He stated that the modalities were being worked out and that the ministry would not provide any funds, since the beneficiary organisations would pay for the training of the recruits.
“The essence is to have a pool of highly trained professional security personnel who will be employed by the security companies,” he said, pointing out that the short to long-term arrangement was for the new training arrangement to provide the private security firms with their human resource needs.
The minister said although the duration of training was yet to be determined, it would be a period ranging from three to six months.
On the suspension of issuance of new licences, the minister stated that it was a worrying situation that the ministry did not have any data on the number of private security firms in Accra, let alone the other regions.
Security situation
Touching on the general security situation in the country, Mr Woyongo praised the security agencies for the peace in the country and urged Ghanaians to cherish it.
He asked Ghanaians not to take things for granted and instead urged them to co-operate with the agencies to continue to work relentlessly towards the sustenance of peace.
Commenting on the recent police recruitment scam that hit the headlines, he advised Ghanaians to be discerning and desist from falling prey to con men, tricksters and fraudsters.
He urged the media and the police to intensify the education of the public on issues pertaining to recruitment into the security services to stem the tide of unsuspecting people falling prey to fraudsters.
He was at a loss as to how members of the public would part with money when they knew the established system of recruiting personnel into the security services.
Mr Woyongo said under the arrangement, one had to apply, write an aptitude test, attend an interview, undertake a medical test, among other things, before qualifying for the training at the Police Training schools.
