Unqualified persons won’t be recruited into security services, Muntaka assures
THE Minister designate for the Interior, Mubarak Muntaka, has assured the nation that only qualified persons will be recruited into the various security services under the Interior Ministry to ensure high standards and professionalism.
He indicated that the ministry would ensure applicants and recruits met the academic and physical qualifications to work in the security services.
Mr Muntaka was speaking at his vetting by the Appointments Committee in Accra yesterday, prior to his subsequent approval by Parliament.
He also affirmed that in line with the manifesto of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the government would eradicate excessive partisanship in the security services.
He indicated that the government would review the recruitment process and ensure a perfect balance in the Ghana Police Service, the Ghana Immigration Service, the Ghana National Fire Service, the Ghana Prisons Service and other security agencies.
“We will review the recruitment process to ensure a perfect balance, and we will improve the process to ensure that we do away with excessive partisanship in the security services,” he said.
He stressed that the government was not interested in cancelling the recruitment of some persons in the security services.
However, he said the review process would ensure that only persons who met the criteria, including academic and physical qualifications, remained in the services.
Professionalism
Mr Muntaka indicated that to ensure professionalism and prevent the police from harassing motorists, the Ministry of the Interior would ensure that police officers on duty used body cameras.
“We will ensure that all police officers on duty make use of body cameras that would record all their actions. The handing over notes show that the police have started using body cameras. They have 800 in their possession and about 30,800 have been procured,” the Lawmaker said.
The MP for Asawase said the ministry would champion the establishment of an Independent Police Standards Bureau and similar bodies across the other services to investigate the conduct of their personnel when complaints were made against them.
This, he said, would ensure the trust of Ghanaians to report more of such misconduct of security personnel on duty.
Reforms
Mr Muntaka bemoaned the handling of inmates at the various Prisons across the country, saying the GH¢1.80 ration for prisoners was woefully inadequate.
He indicated that he would champion the use of public-private partnerships to ensure that inmates acquired new skills while in prison in preparation for their reintegration into society when they were done serving their prison terms.
He also supported the previous decision of President John Mahama in 2016 to change the name of the Prisons Service to Correctional Centre to help change the mindset of society that the prisons were a place for punishing prisoners and not for correcting inmates.
Mr Muntaka gave an assurance that the government would also retool the Fire Service to help them in their fire-fighting efforts.
He lamented the fact that for the past 10 years, the Fire Service had not procured any new fire tenders.
Threats
Mr Muntaka expressed worry about the proliferation of small arms in the country, saying the numerous unapproved routes along Ghana’s borders had been used by persons in the conflict-prone areas to smuggle guns into the country.
He stated that although the country had one gun-detector gadget at the ports, it was not enough to help curb the smuggling of small arms into the country.
He added that he would champion the procurement of more of the gadgets to help police and immigration officers detect guns being smuggled in vehicles into the country.
Mr Mubarak also supported the call for the prosecution of persons arrested by the police in connection with perpetrating electoral violence.
Mr Mubarak indicated that at least 150 perpetrators had been arrested by the police and were currently facing prosecution.
“At the moment, about 150 have been put before court. I can assure you that, if by the grace of God, this committee approves my nomination, I will ensure that they are prosecuted. I will support the team to ensure that justice is served so that they would serve as a deterrent to others,” he said.
Mr Mubarak also lauded the Ghana Police Service for the responsive and strategic actions it adopted to contain last month’s presidential and parliamentary elections.
“I like how the police operated; people thought they were going to destroy election materials and get away with it. The police were just taking video evidence of all their actions.
“The police refused to use firearms because if they had used firearms, we would have counted a lot of deaths. In this election, we did not hear any gunshot from the police and that was because of their strategic decision,” he stated.
Peace in Bawku
Touching on the conflict in Bawku, Mr Muntaka gave an assurance that he was going to assist the security services to ensure that sustainable peace returned to the area, as well as all other parts of the country that were experiencing similar conflicts.
He indicated that it was time for the country to be dispassionate about conflict and called for a national conference on the future of the chieftaincy institution to enable it to resolve all chieftaincy challenges.