A parliamentary committee vice chairman says that the Mahama administration may have inadvertently raised unrealistic expectations among job-seeking youth by linking its 24-hour economy policy with the ongoing security service recruitment exercise.

Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah, MP for Manhyia South and Vice Chairman of the Subsidiary Legislative Committee of Parliament, told the AM Show that a review of the National Democratic Congress (NDC)’s 24-hour economy document shows no clear provision for the security sector, raising questions about how the two became connected in the public perception.

“When I pulled out the document on the 24-hour economy, I did not see where the security sector fits in. The 24-hour economy was post-elections. We are looking at the manifesto of the NDC — the promises they sold to the Ghanaian youth,” he said.

The 24-hour economy was a flagship campaign promise of the NDC ahead of the December 2024 elections. The initiative proposed that businesses and public services operate across three shifts to create more jobs, but many young Ghanaians assumed this would include extensive recruitment into the security services.

This expectation was reinforced by the government’s manifesto pledge to raise the recruitment age limit for security services from 25 to 35 years.

Interior Minister Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak, at the launch of the recruitment exercise, announced that graduates would be eligible up to age 30 and craftsmen up to age 35, framing it as a commitment to inclusiveness.

However, the numbers told a different story.

The Ghana Immigration Service alone received 180,000 applications, despite having a current strength of just 18,000 officers. Of the nearly 500,000 applicants across all security services, only 105,000 progressed past the aptitude test to the medical screening stage, with just 5,000 ultimately slated for recruitment.

Awuah argued that President John Mahama’s credibility as a former head of state made young Ghanaians take the campaign promises seriously.

“This man had been president before. He’d been thrown out. Now he’s telling you: I’ve been there before, this is possible, I can do it. That’s a legitimate expectation you have created,” he said.