President John Dramani Mahama has clarified that 280,000 applied for security recruitment and not 500,000 as widely reported.
According to John Mahama, the figure appeared inflated because many applicants applied to multiple agencies simultaneously.
President Mahama further urged that candidates who scored below the 65% aptitude test cutoff should be retained in a database and recruited in batches of 10,000 annually over four years, giving 40,000 applicants another chance, stressing that missing the mark does not necessarily mean they are unqualified.
Speaking during an engagement with Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) at the Jubilee House on Monday, March 30, 2026, Mahama stated, “The security recruitment mark was set at 65%. The aptitude test required 65%, and so it must have disqualified many people. What I said was that we must maintain the database of those who applied. It was not 500,000 as the media is saying; it was about 280,000. What happened was that people put multiple applications for different services.
“…Somebody applies for immigration, police, fire, and prisons. So, one person applied for four, and that accounted for the 500,000 figure. When you say 500,000 people applied and didn’t get in, it wasn’t 500,000, it was 280,000,” he explained.
Mahama further added, “Now, the thing was set at 65%, and so it disqualified some people. But I’ve said that we’re employing 10,000 for this year, for 2025. Actually, this was supposed to be the 2025 recruitment. So, what I have said is that we should maintain the database for those who applied.
“If you took your 65% and you took some of them, there are still others there, too, who qualify. Just because they didn’t get 65% doesn’t mean they don’t qualify. So, let’s use it as a rolling database for 40,000. We’ll take 10,000 a year for four years, so 40,000 people can have the opportunity, and we probably will lower their qualification,” he said.
“One of the points I make is that the security services are interesting. It is not aptitude alone that is important. You need courage, you need other attributes beyond mental acuity. If you send your recruits to, for want of a better place, let me say Bawku — or Nkwanta, or Sampa, or anywhere there are flashpoints, and there’s action and an attack, sometimes the 65% aptitude people will be the first to run,” President Mahama added.
Earlier, President John Dramani Mahama had, broke his silence regarding the brouhaha surrounding the security recruitment.
According to President Mahama, the move to introduce technology into the recruitment process was to address long-standing concerns about bias in public sector hiring.
Mahama further refuted claims that ongoing recruitment into the security services was driven by favouritism.
Speaking during an engagement with the Ghanaian community in Philadelphia on Thursday, March 26, President Mahama explained, “There have been a lot of complaints that people get recruited based on who they know. This was an attempt to use digitalisation to sort through the first wave of applications. The computer doesn’t know who you are”.
“The intent was in good faith, but the response was overwhelming. We held a meeting and decided to expand the recruitment, and all those who applied don’t need to pay again,” he added.
Also, Mahama directed an increase in security services recruitment from 5000 to 10,000 yearly.
A statement from the presidency dated Monday, March 16, revealed the directive comes following a high-level meeting with heads of the various agencies.
President Mahama’s directives will see the number of men and women recruited to the various security agencies increased from twenty thousand (20,000) to forty thousand (40,000) over four years.
In a Presidency communication shared by signed by Felix Kwakye Ofosu, read, “President John Dramani Mahama has held a high-level meeting with the Heads of Security Agencies, Minister for the Interior and Acting Minister for Defence on the ongoing security services recruitment process.
Following a briefing on the process, the President has directed that the number of men and women to be recruited to the various security agencies should be increased from twenty thousand (20,000) to forty thousand (40,000) over a four-year period.
The President has also directed the Heads of the Security Agencies to ensure transparency and fairness in the recruitment process.
Present at the meeting were the Chief of Staff, Secretary to the President, Senior Presidential Advisor on Governmental Affairs, National Security Coordinator, Inspector General of Police, Director General Prisons, Director General Fire Service, Comptroller-General of the Ghana Immigration Service and the Director General of the Narcotics Control Commission”.
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President John Dramani Mahama has clarified that security service applications were not 500,000 as widely reported, but about 280,000, noting the figure appeared inflated because many applicants applied to multiple agencies simultaneously.
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He further urged that candidates who… pic.twitter.com/uV3chodzuA