Secret Recruitment: ‘Empty’ & ‘baseless’ allegation by ‘confused’ Minority – Deputy Defence Minister

Deputy Minister of Defence, Major (retired) Derrick Oduro, has rubbished claims by the Minority that government is ‘secretly’ recruiting some NPP youth into the military.

He described the allegation as “empty” and “baseless” from a “confused” Minority in parliament.

“The NDC is turning into a laughing stock with their empty and baseless utterances. When we respond to that, then you give them that mileage. There is no truth in their allegation,” he said in an interview with NEAT FM’s morning show ‘Ghana Montie’.

Minority flags ‘secret recruitment’

The Minority in Parliament has asked the Ministers of Defence and the Interior to respond to its concerns that there has been ‘clandestine’ recruitment into the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), Ghana Police Service (GPS) and Ghana Immigration Service (GIS).

The Leader of the Minority, Haruna Iddrisu, said the attention of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) Members of Parliament (MPs) had been drawn to such recruitment without public advertisement “serving notice to Ghanaian citizens to prepare themselves for recruitment into these important state institutions and security agencies.”

According to him, information gathered by the Minority indicated that about 1,600 had been recruited into the GAF, saying “in respect of the GPS, the last time the public witnessed a public advert in accordance with the Constitution and the public service requirement and regulation was in 2017.”

“So, we are asking fundamental questions. How come in 2018, 2019, and 2020 there is no official public notice?” he queried.

“GAF, I am told, there is some training going on. At the police depot, there is some training going on between Tesano and Palogu in Bolgatanga,” Haruna Iddrisu, who is also the NDC MP for Tamale South, noted.

“This is not an acceptable public service practice. The Constitution requires that there shall be no discrimination on the basis of gender, geography, religion ethnicity, and region.

“The idea of a public notice allows every eligible legitimate Ghanaian citizen desirous of joining the security agencies to apply and go through a rigorous process of recruitment into the security agencies.

"...I am requesting the Minister for the Interior and Minister for Defence to respond appropriately … in Parliament,” he added.

Recruitment of new soldiers will be announced in the media

Major (retired) Derrick Oduro, however, told host of NEAT FM’s morning show, Kwesi Aboagye that “no one can stop the government from recruiting, but the right thing will be done if the government wants to recruit new officers.”

“It will be published in the dailies and announced on radio for the general public to apply online. No secret recruitment is going on".