The Jatikay Centre for Human Security and Peace Building has called for urgent reforms after revelations that several recruits in Ghana’s security services were dismissed following the discovery of forged West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results.
Minister for the Interior Muntaka Mohammed‑Mubarak confirmed that the government had expelled a number of fraudulent candidates from training institutions, a move the Centre praised but deemed inadequate.
Executive Director Adib Saani warned that allowing individuals with compromised integrity to access firearms, classified intelligence and sensitive state infrastructure poses an existential threat to public safety. He urged an immediate overhaul of the digital recruitment portals so that academic credentials are verified in real time with the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) at the entry stage, rather than after training has begun.
The Centre highlighted that forging educational certificates is a criminal offence under Ghanaian law and should be prosecuted by law enforcement agencies, not merely treated as a recruitment violation. “Forging or knowingly using a forged academic certificate is potentially a criminal matter, not merely a recruitment violation,” Saani said.
He added that a person who falsifies qualifications may have deeper integrity problems, and that security institutions grant access to weapons, intelligence, restricted facilities and public trust. “We cannot afford to discover an individual’s dishonesty after giving that person a uniform, training, authority and access,” he warned.
To restore confidence, the Centre called on state authorities to conduct a comprehensive audit of the entire recruitment and vetting apparatus, demanding full public disclosure of the number of fraudulent applications detected, the number of compromised recruits who passed initial screening, and those currently in training across various security academies.
“Verify before you recruit; Vet before you train; Prosecute proven fraud. And protect the integrity of Ghana’s security services,” the statement concluded, underscoring that national security depends on the moral character of recruited personnel.
