The Minister for the Interior, Muntaka Mubarak Mohammed, has revealed that at least 10 recruits have been dismissed from Ghana’s security services training schools for breaking the rules on mobile phone use.
According to the Minister, the recruits were caught secretly keeping and using their phones even though they had been instructed to hand them over when they reported to the training schools.
He explained that the dismissals are part of efforts to maintain discipline and make sure all recruits follow the rules and regulations of the training institutions.
The Minister made this known during an interaction with students of Sakafiya Islamic Senior High School in Kumasi. He was speaking about the recruitment process into Ghana’s security services and what is expected from people who want to join.
Muntaka Mubarak expressed concern about the level of indiscipline among some recruits. He said some people follow the rules during the recruitment process but begin to break them after they are admitted into the training schools.
He also revealed that the latest recruitment exercise was highly competitive, with more than 500,000 people applying to join Ghana’s security services.
However, only about 10,000 applicants were selected for training. This means that thousands of people who applied were not successful.
The Minister said the large number of applicants shows that many young Ghanaians are interested in working with the country’s security services.
He stressed that being selected for training comes with responsibilities. Recruits are expected to respect the rules of their institutions and maintain discipline throughout their training.
Speaking about the issue of mobile phones, he said:
“It was so vigorous that over half a million people applied. We ended up taking only 10,000. Indiscipline, people got there and they were hiding their phones in their pillows. First, the moment you get to training school, they take all your phones.
“Some decided to hide their phones and in the night, they were making calls. Some of them were caught. At least, I have been written to th at least about 10 students have been dismissed from training school for holding phones.”
