The Minister for the Interior, Henry Quartey, has vehemently denied allegations suggesting the government's involvement in the illicit recruitment of New Patriotic Party (NPP) members into the security services.

Accusations from the Minority in Parliament have pointed to an alleged scheme where each NPP Parliamentary Candidate purportedly received 30 slots for enlistment into various security branches, a move perceived to sway the outcomes of the forthcoming 2024 general elections.

Expressing concerns during a press conference, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, the Minority Leader, warned of potential repercussions if these recruits, dubbed as "NPP thugs in uniform," engage in unauthorised actions.

In response to these allegations, Mr. Quartey addressed the matter during an interview with Citi FM on Monday, dismissing the minority's claims as baseless and regrettable.

He emphasised the government's non-involvement in such activities.

Contrary to the accusations, Mr Quartey stressed that recruitment processes have not yet commenced and assured that when they do, transparency will prevail. 

He reiterated that the government's agenda does not include covert enlistments but rather aims to address the backlog of recruits from previous years.

The Minister further elaborated that the absence of recruitment advertisements is attributed to the pending disclosure of eligibility criteria by the respective agencies. 

“It is rather unfortunate that MPs and of course a leader, Minority Leader and a former deputy minister of Interior could actually spew this falsehood into the public. MPs currently are about 137…it cannot be possible, it is not and it cannot be possible. I am rather disappointed in this approach…Yes, we are recruiting but it is not a secret recruitment. We haven’t even started. The agencies are going to send the eligibility criteria. I am sure by this week they will do that.”

“What we are saying rather is that look in the last couple of years people have gone to buy forms. And for some reasons, they could not gain admission into the security and intelligence agencies. So we thought it wise that we don’t have to advertise anymore for people to continuously pay monies because you have a certain number of people that per the clearance you have to recruit.

“But I want to say on authority and I want to say again on authority that giving 30 slots to MPs is false. It is not true. It has never happened before and I am surprised that they want to go on this tangent,” he stated.