More than 6,000 applicants have been disqualified from Ghana’s ongoing security services recruitment exercise after failing newly introduced drug and mental health screening tests, Interior Minister Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak has revealed.
Speaking on Pan African TV on Saturday, the Minister said over 100,000 applicants underwent medical examinations as part of the process, a figure that prompted authorities to extend screening well beyond routine physical and laboratory checks to include assessments of mental fitness and substance use.
“Interestingly, over 4,000 people failed the drug test,” he disclosed, adding that a further 2,000 applicants were disqualified on mental health grounds, pushing total disqualifications from the two new categories alone past 6,000.
Muntaka Mubarak said the scale of the exercise and growing concerns observed within the security services drove the decision to introduce the additional measures, stressing that only physically and mentally fit individuals should be enlisted into the country’s security agencies.
The inclusion of mental health and drug assessments marks a significant departure from previous recruitment practices and signals a broader institutional commitment to raising professional and welfare standards across Ghana’s security services.
