Gun licensing in Ghana still manual, renewal system ‘daunting’ – Interior Minister

The Minister for the Interior, Muntaka Mubarak, has revealed that Ghana’s gun registration process remains fully manual, posing significant challenges for both applicants and law enforcement.Ghana travel guide

Appearing before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Tuesday, September 30, 2025, the Minister explained that acquiring a firearm license involves several cumbersome steps, including writing directly to the Interior Minister, background checks by the National Investigations Bureau (NIB) or the Police CID, fingerprinting, and fee payments.

He noted that while the registration process is to control the number of guns in the country, the manual system also complicates renewals since firearm licenses are issued per calendar year.

“One of the challenges that we have is that everything is manual. For example, if you want to possess a firearm, you have to write to the Minister for the Interior, who then forwards it to the National Investigations Bureau (NIB) or the police CID. They will then do a background check and advise the minister.

“After you go to the police CID, they will take your fingerprint, and then you pay the necessary fees, and then they grant you the license.

“You may take your license in November, and by December, it has expired. The law is such that the one-year mandate is within a particular year, that is, from January 1 to December 30. But because all these are manual, it becomes a daunting task,” he added.

He added that talks are underway to ensure that the process is moved onto a digital platform to make the gun registration process easier.

The Interior Minister disclosed that discussions are ongoing to transition the firearm licensing process to a digital platform to streamline operations and reduce loopholes.

Earlier, Inspector General of Police Christian Tetteh Yohuno explained that while licenses are valid for one year, many gun owners fail to renew them on time, leaving the police unaware until incidents occur.

His responses came after the Chairperson of the PAC, Abena Osei Asare, raised questions about the registration process during the hearing, prompting the minister’s remarks.

“To register a gun means that you must acquire the license to possess a firearm as an individual through our firearm commission, just like you have a driver’s license. When you are given the licence, you possess the gun for a year.

“After that, you have to go back and renew that license. But the problem we have is that people actually go straight to renew the licenses. It isn’t until something happens that the police get to know that such a license holder has not renewed,” he said.