In this two-part opinion piece, I engage with some key issues that stem from the revelations in the press briefings by the Ministers of the Interior and Defence. This first part addresses why the (alleged) problems are important, and I do so by placing them within a broader context of Security Sector Governance and Reform (SSG/R) and providing examples to back my observations and claims. To begin my piece, I provide an introduction and context. This section is followed by a long engagement with the alleged scandal around recruitment into the security services and what that means for trust and confidence in the sector. I end this part one with some pointers to what one must expect in Part Two.
Introduction and context
In July 2025, both casual and keen observers of the Ghanaian security sector were jolted out of their seats by certain revelations made by the Minister of the Interior and the Minister of Defence, respectively. The first shock was the depth and scale of the recruitment scandals associated with the various security agencies, and the other was what looks like poor stockpile management of several of the state-owned magazines (and one could infer their armouries as well). In this context, I use ‘Stockpile management’ to mean:
“Specific technical areas related to the safety and security of ammunition and explosives in accounting, storage, transportation and handling. In addition, it refers to issues such as the determination of stockpile size, types of stockpiles, location of stockpiles and the management of ammunition in service” [Saferworld Small Arms and Light Weapons Control Training manual file:///Users/emmanuel/Downloads/SALW-module-9.pdf
Also, when I say scandal, I adopt the meaning from the Cambridge dictionary, as follows ‘(an action or event that causes) a public feeling of shock and strong moral disapproval. [https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/scandal]
These eye-openers that were revealed by the two ministers were not only significant developments, but also sharply questioned how Ghana manages certain core areas of her Security Sector Governance and Reform (SSG/R), which are crucial to its peace, stability, and development in a considerably challenging region.
In other words, how strong is her democratic governance of her security sector? For some of us, such open revelations and the debates they spark present a unique chance for reforms, aimed at strengthening Ghana’s security through more effective oversight and accountability mechanisms. I still believe this, even if the revelations are viewed as opportunistic. In this vein, my honest, straightforward opinion is that neither of the two major political parties has completely clean hands in this matter.
From a criminological perspective, these revelations could potentially further undermine the legitimacy of the security institutions and, consequently, weaken the peace, security, and development in Ghana. To understand fully what these revelations imply for national security, it is important to place them within a broader context of the sectoral developments by considering recent and wider events. Some examples will illustrate this point. Beyond the revelations by the two ministers, recent findings by Transparency International, the Government Defence Integrity Index (GDI), studies by UNODC, and various Afrobarometer reports paint an unflattering picture of the sector.
Ghana was downgraded in a recent GDI report, and Afrobarometer reports consistently point to a legitimacy deficit within the sector. Furthermore, Eboe Hutchful, Humphrey Asamoah Agyekum, and Ben Kunbour (2021)have also offered concerning observations about the state of democratic oversight of the Ghana Armed Forces, noting that:
“All these grim indicators convey worrisome signals of governance and developmental failures that are at odds with Ghana’s celebrated image abroad, and reflected in a pervasive sense of disquiet within Ghana itself.”
Why is recruitment important to the security sector?
Let’s concentrate on the police (history), as police research is my main area of expertise, and then draw on developments in that field to illustrate and support my points. Over a century ago, Robert Peel, who is regarded as one of the (if not the) primary architects of modern policing, emphasised the importance of police recruitment for the organisation’s success. Writing at a time when appointments in British society were largely influenced by patronage, Peel warned against adopting this practice for police recruitment. For instance, in December 1829, he addressed three commissions on the matter, cautioning that:
“All nominations for the police as well as original nominations as promotions from inferior stations, should depend exclusively upon character, qualifications and services of the persons selected … I am convinced that on the strict adherence to this principle, must entirely depend the efficiency and character of the new establishment”.
In reinforcing the seriousness that Peel attached to recruitment, Douglas Hurd (2007), in his book Robert Peel: A Biography, takes up the issue of how Peel saw recruitment as a critical variable within the broader scheme of making the police effective. Hurd posited that:
“Peel understood that the success of the new force would depend not soo much on its legal powers as on the quality of men picked to staff it…He took corresponding trouble over recruitment of the bulk of the new force…”
In essence, Peel was keenly aware that the integrity of the recruitment process and the quality of the people who staffed the police had serious, multidimensional repercussions with regard to the level of trust and confidence of the people. In essence, he wanted to safeguard the legitimacy of the police.
This legitimacy, or trust and confidence in the police would ultimately affect the police’s ability to deliver the expected service. In today’s criminological sense, he was answering the question of “the Basic Legitimation Expectation” The admiration that people have for the police in the UK (despite several challenges with minorities, the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving police officer, etc) can be partly attributable to the legacy of Peel, including the foundation he laid concerning how the police should be staffed.
One more thing on recruitment. Public Service Motivation has been extensively studied to establish how it affects organisations, including the security sector’s performance. Like other social sciences, the literature is both consistent and varied in many ways, but what experts rarely dispute is the fact that recruitment is essential to organisational development (and I would add their legitimacy).
Unless the security agencies, including the police, Armed Forces and so on, attract and retain the right calibre of people, their long-term effect on our national security will be catastrophic. When sham recruitment processes define how we staff our security agencies, it is merely a matter of time before we pay dearly for this.
In the last few days, General Anyidoho (rtd) expressed this concern and what it portends for the country’s security. Many securocrates have highlighted this trepidation also, and such exposes offer opportunity for meaningful reforms, not just lengthy debates.
All the long attention on police recruitment is important because the police are front and centre of any criminal justice system and have an enormous and wide range of discretionary powers that affect almost everyone. In this light, Barley (2006) suggests that the health of a democratic state can be assessed by the quality of its policing; thus, it would be contradictory to say a state is democratic if its policing is characterised by human rights violations, discriminatory practices, (recruitment) corruption and so on.
The police, then, are the concrete manifestations of the state, or, as Punch (2010) opines, “police officers are state made flesh
They stand out. even among what Michael Lypsky describe as street-level bureaucrats, who have such huge discretionary powers. Added to such powers is the fact that police occupation is one of the most morally challenging fields, replete with ethical dilemmas and the constant temptation/lure of different forms of corruption
In Ghana, various round of Afrobarometer reports shows the police and other state security agencies suffer from a legitimacy deficit or lack of trust and confidence. Such alleged scandals do not help in reversing the perception/trend but only reinforce it. In essence, every aspect of police work must be subject to robust oversight. Left unattended, the organisation can become a beast- and this is why the revelations by the Minister of the Interior must attract public attention and trigger meaningful reforms.
The other issue that was raised by the Minister of Defence, and is of serious concern for national security, is the ammunition that cannot be accounted for. This problem brings me to the broader threats posed by the illicit proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALWs), their related ammunition and other issues. This is what I will now turn my attention to in the next episode, or part two..
Written by Emmanuel Sowatey. (PhD).
Email: [email protected]
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