Prospective applicants seeking to join the security services next year may have to wait longer or pursue other career interests, as the Minister for the Interior, Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak, has announced that no recruitment will take place in 2027.

The Minister disclosed this while appearing before Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee on Tuesday, October 20, noting that the move forms part of the government’s efforts to clear the existing backlog of qualified applicants awaiting enlistment.

“Next year, there will be no new applicants. We are not going to open the portal based on the President’s instructions. We are not going to open the portal for fresh applications,” the Minister said.

He explained that the decision to halt recruitment was based on a directive from President John Dramani Mahama, adding that the government intends to prioritise applicants who have already completed the recruitment process and met the requirements but could not be admitted for training because of limited space.

“Those who have already applied, gone through and passed the process and qualified to have gone for training but space didn’t allow are the ones we will pick. We will keep picking from the list until we exhaust it before another application will be allowed,” he added.

Meanwhile, several recruits were sent home from security services training schools for submitting doctored WASSCE results for admission. The Interior Minister, Muntaka Mubarak Mohammed, disclosed this while speaking at a ceremony to open new classroom facilities at the Asokore Mampong Roman Catholic School.

Ghana’s security services include the Police, Prisons, Immigration, Fire Service, Narcotics Control Commission and the Ghana Armed Forces. According to him, the recruits were identified after the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) conducted a thorough verification of their results and found them to be fraudulent.

“It’s so shocking that a lot of people forged their results. I don’t know how they think that they will be employed in the Police, Prisons, Immigration, Fire Service, Narcotics Control Commission, or Armed Forces, and the certificate you present won’t be checked,” he said.

“As we speak, many have been dismissed from the training because they have doctored their results slips,” he added, warning prospective applicants to ensure they meet the required qualifications before applying to join any of the security services,” he added.

The recruitment exercises into the Ghana Police Service, Ghana Prisons Service, Ghana National Fire Service, and the Ghana Immigration Service began in November, 2025.

The exercise was grouped into five stages: online application, documentation, body selection, aptitude test and medical examination.

In March, the government made a U-turn regarding the number of personnel to be recruited into the country’s security services.

Originally, 20,000 personnel were expected to be recruited, but this has now been increased to 40,000. These recruits will be deployed gradually from now until 2029.

President Mahama, together with heads of security agencies, Interior Minister Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak, and Acting Defence Minister Cassiel Ato Forson, reviewed and approved the decision on Monday, March 16.

According to a press release by the presidency, “Following a briefing on the process, the President has directed that the number of men and women to be recruited to the various security agencies should be increased from twenty thousand (20,000) to forty thousand (40,000) over four years”.

Present at the meeting were the Chief of Staff, Secretary to the President, Senior Presidential Advisor on Governmental Affairs, National Security Coordinator, Inspector General of Police, Director General Prisons, Director General Fire Service, Comptroller-General of the Ghana Immigration Service and the Director General of the Narcotics Control Commission.