Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah, MP for Manhyia South and Vice Chairman of the Subsidiary Legislative Committee of Parliament has described the government’s security service recruitment exercise as exploitative, following reports that over 500,000 young Ghanaians paid application fees for a process that will absorb only 5,000 people.

Speaking in an exclusive interview on the AM Show, Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah expressed concern over the financial burden on applicants.

“About 500,000 people applied for the vacancies. The government charged 200 cedis, I understand, from each applicant. For me, that is very, very unfortunate. It looks like we are exploiting the vulnerability of the Ghanaian youth,” he said.

The recruitment exercise, which covers the Ghana Police Service, Ghana Prisons Service, Ghana National Fire Service, and Ghana Immigration Service, was launched in November 2025 through the Centralised Services E-Recruitment Portal (C-SERP), introduced by Interior Minister Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak.

The Interior Minister has since confirmed that 506,618 Ghanaians applied, despite government plans to recruit only 5,000 personnel due to fiscal constraints. Minister Mohammed-Mubarak defended the numbers, pointing out that the combined strength of all the security services is less than 100,000, with a wage bill of approximately GHS 13 billion, making it financially unsustainable to hire more staff.

The recruitment exercise has drawn criticism from the Minority in Parliament, which has urged the government to refund the estimated GHS 113 million collected from disqualified applicants. They argue that fees should not be retained for those who never had a fair chance to complete the process.