Interior Minister Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak says Ghana would require more than 100,000 new officers across its security services to meet international standards.

Speaking on the Joy FM Super Morning Show on Monday, November 17, he explained that the staffing gap is based on “the standard international practice” compared with the country’s current manpower levels.

“If we were to have budget room, and you take the standard international practice against the number of police that we have and the number of police that we should have, I would say that we’ll have needed about 33,000 for the police.

“And when it comes to immigration, we’ll need about 12,000. When it comes to fire service, we’ll need about 22,000. If you come to prisons, we’ll need another 12,000.”

He stressed that demanding the full number from the national purse would be unrealistic. “Obviously, the budget, I will be the most reasonable person to tell the Finance Minister to make this room for over 100,000 for the Minister of Interior alone.”

According to him, the Ministry of Finance has not yet confirmed how many new officers can be supported in the upcoming budget. He said the Finance Minister, in consultation with the President, is still reviewing the numbers.

“Currently, the Minister of Finance tells us in Cabinet, together with the President, that we should allow him to work on this budget and get back to tell us exactly how many numbers we can accommodate,” he noted.

While the Interior Ministry has proposed ideal staffing levels for international parity, he said discussions with the Finance Minister are ongoing. “As of now, we have not finalised the number with the Minister of Finance,” he added.

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