The recruitment portal for Ghana’s security services will not reopen to new applicants in 2027, Interior Minister Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak has told Parliament.
Instead, the Ghana Police Service, Ghana Prisons Service, Ghana National Fire Service and Ghana Immigration Service will consider candidates who passed the screening and medical stages of the 2025/2026 recruitment exercise but have not yet been called for training.
Mr Mohammed-Mubarak said the timing and size of the next intake would depend on financial clearance. He was speaking on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, when he appeared before Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) with the heads of the security agencies during its consideration of the 2025 Auditor-General’s reports.
He said the decision not to accept new applications followed an instruction from the President.
“Next year, there will be no new applicants. We are not going to open the portal,” he told the committee.
The minister said he hoped another group would be recruited in 2027, but confirmed that the necessary financial clearance had not yet been secured. He said he was seeking approval to recruit an additional 10,000 personnel, although he could not say when training would begin or how many applicants would ultimately be selected.
The committee chairperson had asked how the ministry planned to respond to applicants who had completed the process and received notifications but were still waiting at home for training. She also raised concerns about financial clearance expiring on December 31, citing the Ghana Immigration Service.
Mr Mohammed-Mubarak said clearance had been secured to recruit 10,000 personnel, but the number of applicants who passed the process exceeded the available places. Recruits currently in training are expected to complete their programmes by the end of December, allowing another batch to begin.
“Resources are not unlimited,” he said.
The minister said the Ghana Police Service had about 50,000 personnel, compared with an estimated requirement of between 70,000 and 80,000. Even if clearance were granted for 20,000 or 30,000 new recruits, he said existing training facilities could not accommodate them all at once. Recruitment and training would therefore have to take place in batches.
Age and medical concerns
The committee also asked what would happen to applicants who passed the process but exceeded the prescribed age limit while waiting for training. Mr Mohammed-Mubarak said the ministry would consider the issue if it arose, adding that he did not want to decide on it without consulting his team.
Female applicants who became pregnant after passing their medical examinations but before being called for training had been told to return home to deliver. They would be considered in the next recruitment round, he said.
The Centralised Services E-Recruitment Portal (C-SERP) opened on November 17, 2025, and closed on December 19, 2025. About 390,000 people initially applied to join the four services.
More than 100,000 passed the aptitude test, which required a minimum score of 65 per cent, while about 105,000 qualified for medical examinations for approximately 5,000 available places.
The President later directed the ministry to retain the records of applicants who passed their medical examinations. On May 23, 2026, the minister said the President had asked the Minister of Finance to double the intake from 5,000 to 10,000.
More than 100,000 applicants underwent medical examinations. More than 4,000 failed the drug test, over 2,000 were disqualified on mental health grounds and about 1,300 were disqualified after testing positive for HIV.
