Dominic Aduna Bingab Nitiwul
The Minister for Defence, Dominic Aduna Bingab Nitiwul, says there is no protocol allocation in the Ghana Armed Forces and that the regimental institution only follows laid-down standards and regulation for enlistment.
According to him, the processes that the Ghana Armed Forces goes through for enlistment do not lean on protocol allocations.
He appealed to Members of Parliament (MPs) to educate their constituents on the arrangements.
Answering questions on the Floor of Parliament yesterday, Mr. Nitiwul, who is also the NPP MP for Bimbilla, indicated that “MPs are also not given protocol allocations.”
“Tell your constituents that MPs are not given protocol allocations. They have never been given and will not be given protocol allocations,” he stressed.
The NDC MP for Adaklu, Kwame Governs Agbodza, asked the minister steps the ministry was taking to ensure equity in the recruitment.
Mr. Nitiwul said the Ghana Armed Forces personnel administration has set some general standards that prospective applicants have to meet before they are qualified to be recruited.
“In addition to the general requirements, the Armed Forces ensures that there is regional balance. We try to be gender balanced as well,” he stated and added that “the GAF is technically not a public service, but it tries to ensure that we look at the security of the country, using that as a guide.”
“They have not stretched themselves to the constituency level. For now, the rules and regulations that they have made for themselves and their practices and conventions have been gender balanced, moving from the original 10 per cent, which is in the regulation for women, to 15 per cent under the current dispensation,” the minister disclosed.
By Ernest Kofi Adu, Parliament House