President John Dramani Mahama has rejected claims that recent enlistment into the country’s security services was influenced by patronage, maintaining that a digitised system was introduced to guarantee merit and openness.

Addressing members of the Ghanaian diaspora in Philadelphia on Thursday, March 26, President Mahama explained that the adoption of technology in the recruitment process was intended to eliminate longstanding concerns about bias in public sector employment.

He acknowledged, however, that the exercise attracted far more interest than anticipated. By his account, roughly 500,000 application vouchers were purchased, although only about 5,000 candidates were shortlisted in the initial phase.

The President indicated that additional measures would be implemented to further enhance accountability and equal access in future recruitment exercises across the security agencies.

The process has in recent weeks drawn heightened public scrutiny, with questions raised about both its scale and integrity. The wide gap between the number of applicants and available slots has also highlighted deepening unemployment challenges.

Some critics have further expressed reservations about the centralised system overseen by the Ministry of the Interior, suggesting it may have had implications for transparency and ease of access during the exercise.

“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,” he said.

“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.