The government is considering a major policy shift that could make drug testing a mandatory requirement for people seeking employment in the public sector.
The Minister for the Interior, Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka, says his Ministry is preparing an Information Paper for Cabinet on the proposed policy following revelations from this year’s security services recruitment exercise that thousands of applicants were disqualified after medical screening.
According to the Minister, the exercise exposed worrying levels of drug use and mental health challenges among prospective recruits and demonstrated the need for more stringent screening before people are admitted into public service.
“Very soon, the Ministry of the Interior will be taking an Information Paper to Cabinet, and one of the things that we are going to do is to ensure that nobody gets into public service until we do a drug test on you,” he said.
Mr Muntaka disclosed this at a ceremony to commission a newly constructed six-unit first-floor classroom block at Sakafiya Islamic Senior High School.
6,000 recruits screened out
The proposed policy follows the outcome of this year’s security services recruitment exercise, during which more than 100,000 applicants reportedly underwent medical examinations.
Unlike previous exercises, the screening included drug testing and mental health assessments alongside the conventional physical and laboratory examinations.
Mr Muntaka said the additional screening resulted in the disqualification of more than 6,000 applicants.
He said more than 4,000 applicants tested positive for various drugs, while about 2,000 others were disqualified on mental health grounds.
“It is shocking for us this year’s recruitment exercise. When we decided to test for drugs, over 6,000 people were disqualified because they tested positive for one drug or the other,” he said.
The Minister said the outcome raised questions about what might have happened if the additional tests had not been introduced.
“If we hadn’t done this, many of them would have gotten through into the civil service,” he added.
The proposed mandatory testing, therefore, seeks to prevent people with drug-related challenges from entering public service without first receiving appropriate support.
Existing personnel also affected
Mr Muntaka said the problem was not confined to applicants seeking to join the security services, acknowledging that some personnel already within the services were also struggling with drug-related problems.
“Some of the officers that we have in the service, some already are into drugs. And we are taking steps to help them to get out of it,” he said.
He stressed that government could not knowingly recruit people who were abusing drugs and subsequently subject them to training for sensitive public-sector responsibilities.
“We are not going to be allowing new people to be trained when we know you are already on drugs,” Mr Muntaka stated.
The Minister’s comments place drug screening within a broader discussion about fitness, discipline and preparedness among personnel whose duties involve public safety and national security.
Drug menace hits schools
Mr Muntaka also expressed concern about the spread of drug use in secondary schools, warning that students were increasingly becoming involved in the distribution of substances such as tramadol.
He called on school authorities to intensify supervision and pay closer attention to activities that could expose students to substance abuse.
“Today, in some of our secondary schools, some of the students themselves are hiding to sell tramadol and other harmful drugs to their colleagues,” he said.
“This is why we are calling on the headmaster to pay attention to these students and what they are doing.”
The Minister cautioned students against peer pressure and misleading claims that substances such as Indian hemp or tramadol could enhance academic performance.
“Drugs destroy you forever,” he cautioned.
“What is the use of that exam if by the time you get A-AAAA, you have destroyed yourself?” he asked.
He said addiction could have lasting consequences for an individual’s mental health, education and future prospects.
Mr Muntaka further urged students facing poverty and other socioeconomic difficulties not to resort to drugs as an escape from their circumstances.
“Your future is way ahead of you. Your future is much brighter ahead of you,” he told the students.
He used his own upbringing to illustrate how difficult circumstances did not necessarily determine a person’s future.
The Interior Minister recalled growing up as the son of a ‘kooko’ seller and helping his mother sell bananas, groundnuts, mangoes and other items on the streets of Kumasi.
“I am a ‘kooko’ [porridge] seller’s son. My mother was selling ‘kooko’ in our home,” he said.
He said his background made it difficult for him to imagine that he could eventually rise to become a Member of Parliament.
“If somebody had told me 40 years ago that one day I could even become a Member of Parliament, I would never have believed it,” he said.
Mr Muntaka also drew a comparison between his own educational journey and that of his first son, who began medical school at the age of 17.
“My first son started medical school when he was 17 years. And the day he entered [university] to start his medicine, I told him, ‘Eman, you are very lucky. You are starting medicine at 17. At 17 years, I was still in primary school,’” he recalled.
He encouraged students not to allow financial hardship or family responsibilities to undermine their aspirations.
“Don’t let the challenge of today- because your mother is poor, because when you go home, you have to go and help your parents to do one thing or the other- you think that hope is lost. No. There cannot be lost hope,” he said.
New classroom block commissioned
The Minister’s remarks were made at the commissioning of the new six-unit first-floor classroom block at Sakafiya Islamic Senior High School.
The facility comprises six classrooms, an office and a six-seater water closet facility and is expected to improve the school’s teaching and learning environment.
Mr Muntaka said investments in educational infrastructure were ultimately intended to give young people the opportunity to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to contribute to national development.
“Students, all these things that we are doing, all this investment that we are putting in, it is for you to be better citizens than us,” he said.
He urged the students to protect and make effective use of the facility while remaining focused on their education and future ambitions.
The proposed drug-testing policy, meanwhile, will have to go through the Cabinet process before any decision is taken on its implementation across the public sector.
