NPP communications team member and former CEO of the Museums and Monuments Board, Kingsley Ofosu Ntiamah, has called on the Ministry of the Interior and security agencies to verify recruits’ certificates before sending them for training.
He said early verification would prevent the state from wasting resources on recruits who may later be found to have used fraudulent credentials to enter the security services.
Speaking to Isaac Addae on Morning Starr on Starr FM, Mr Ofosu Ntiamah said the integrity of the recruitment process is critical to the security of the country.
“We cannot build a credible security service on fraudulent credentials,” he said.
According to him, all documents submitted by applicants should be verified at the early stages of the recruitment process before they proceed to training.
He said the recruitment process begins long before applicants are sent for training, with candidates required to purchase forms and submit their documents before undergoing other processes, including medical examinations.
Mr Ofosu Ntiamah questioned why certificate verification would be delayed for several months until after recruits had already undergone training.
“You can’t do this verification two months, three months down the line, before you say that we are going to do verification of your certificate,” he said.
He said such delays result in financial losses to the state because the government would have already spent money on training and feeding the recruits before discovering that some of their credentials are fraudulent.
“You are causing financial loss to the state because we have taken them to training, training them, feeding them in two months, three months, one month, you say that, oh, your certificate is fake, go home,” he said.
Mr Ofosu Ntiamah said the security agencies and the Ministry of the Interior should strengthen their systems to allow for faster verification, including the use of technology.
He suggested closer collaboration between the relevant agencies so that applicants’ credentials can be verified before they are admitted into training.
He further stressed that recruiting individuals into the security services through fraudulent means could undermine public confidence in the institutions responsible for protecting the country.
“We need to make sure that the integrity of these security men and women are secured because if you are going to be a security person through fraudulent means, what kind of security are you going to be?” he asked.
Mr Ofosu Ntiamah also welcomed calls for recruits found to have engaged in fraudulent activities to be subjected to the appropriate legal processes.
He appealed to the Ministry of the Interior to make certificate verification an essential part of the recruitment process before recruits are sent for training.
Source: Starrfm.com.gh/Benedicta Yayra Gawu
