IMANI Brief: When Service to Nation Becomes “Opportunities for Sale”.

Kwadjo (true identity withheld) had with utmost optimism applied to join the army infantry officer cadet corps in 2019, just a couple of months before his national service as a teaching assistant ended. First, was the body selection which he passed. He passed the aptitude exams, then the obstacle and leadership tests, and lastly the medical examinations. Few weeks after that, he received a call from an unknown number who called his name and mentioned that he had applied to join the army. The caller told him he had passed the medical examination but has to pay GHS4,000 if he wants his name called up for training school. His poor mother could not gather the money in time and so the “opportunity” to serve his country passed by right in front of his eyes. His merited place given to someone who could afford it within the shortest possible time.

Kwadjo’s story represents a class of many young people who dreamed of serving their nation—to sacrifice their lives for a livelihood of purpose and honour. But the system can be so much rigged against their hopes to the extent that the only escape for their depressed souls is to find greener pastures elsewhere, or continue in their unsatisfactory jobs.

Once again, Kwadjo’s fate, and the anxiety of being disqualified in security service recruitment exercise has rained upon some half a million young Ghanaians who applied to join the internal security agency. All they wanted was a somewhat secured, satisfactory, and fulfilling job. But their country charged each of them GHS220.00. That is, before their documents could be verified for “Stage 2” qualification, the state had earned GHS110,000,000 from their desperation to get employed. Then onto body selection and an online aptitude test which came with its own challenges. Demi (true identity withheld), a recent SHS graduate had to travel from his village in the Mfantseman Municipal to the capital, Mankessim, to get a laptop and reliable internet connectivity in order to take the test. Naana (true identity withheld), a struggling seamstress at Kasoa was also assisted by a Police Assistant friend who set up his laptop for her to take the test. At a point, the page was not responding, and when it reloaded, the test had ended without her completing it. After weeks of proctoring and assessment, Demi and Naana’s status on “Stage 4,” Aptitude Test came in as “DISQUALIFIED” in red block letters. The remarks: “You failed to score the required pass mark. Better luck next time.” Just like that, a flick of hope has been quenched. Okay, they failed but what was their score in the test. How much does adding their score—for a bit of closure, acceptance and self-reflection—cost the test administrators?

One too many, young job seekers in Ghana face similar perils. Their applications for employment receive no acknowledgement. They never hear from “You will here from us” after hard prepared interviews. And never get the courtesy of a letter stating the reason why they were unsuccessful. Were they that bad, or simply, the institutions do not care? Some had fasted, prayed, and sacrificed. Must they hold their god in contempt now, or simply give thanks in all things.

The Interior Minister, Hon. Muntaka said in an interview that only 5,000 vacancies are available. Why then must the government sell recruitment/application forms in excess of 99%? Well, unless the monies realised from the sale is meant to pay the salaries of those whom political fortune favours for 5 months at an entry salary of GHS4,000.00. More critically, why does the government sell application/recruitment forms to people it has financial clearance to employ? There is no legal basis in the laws. The Labour Act, 2003 (Act 651) has no provision for government departments to charge fees for public recruitment.

Those who were disqualified have been patted with, “better luck next time”—the scourge, irony, and scornfulness of it. The “next time” is a year or two to come when there will be yet another mass recruitment, illegal charging of fees, and same disappointment to many thousand desperate youth.

If we were a country of systems and working institutions, one needs only to walk into a security service recruitment desk at any district assembly and sign up. There, his documents and body could be inspected against the eligibility criteria. He or she can then select an available date to take the aptitude test which should be within 14 working days after signing up. Test scores can be sent via SMS or email, and when a signee passes further instructions to undergo medical examinations at designated hospitals within the district follows, with the costs absorbed under the NHIS or the Ghana Medical Trust Fund. The medical examination requirement benefits in another way where persons found to have underlying health complications are recommended for further examinations and treatment. Medical examination results are then sent back to the recruitment office by health facility within 5 working days. Top qualifying candidates then get to be called for training after a cadet corps pass out, while those who do not make the cut get a rejection letter explaining why. Without these reforms, the online application process, decentralised body selection exercise, and online aptitude tests will not do so much to eliminate the elephant in the room—slot sharing among politicians, political patronage, extortion and related harassment.

The recruitment process into the nation’s security agencies must be on rolling basis, accessible, transparent, responsive and at zero cost to applicants. When a nation wants patriots who will lay down their lives to defend it sovereignty and population, it must show in how it selects the very people who are first in the line of defence, and maintaining law and order.