Muntaka Mohammed Mubarak, Ghana’s interior minister, announced that in an effort to tighten regulations on gun ownership, he has slowed down the issue of gun licenses.
According to the Interior Minister, he issued the order after learning that acquiring a handgun licence was a very simple process with insufficiently stringent checks.
In an interview with Hot Issues on Sunday, March 15, 2026, he clarified that in the past, applicants merely had to write to the minister; a background check was then carried out before a licence was issued.
“I came to the Ministry to realise that registration for guns was simple. You just write to the Minister, they do a background check, and it is granted. Now I have slowed down the granting of those licences,” he said.
Mr. Muntaka also stated that the ministry is striving to regulate the operations of firearm importers in order to prevent guns from being transported into the nation and sold on the open market.
“We are moving to streamline the importers to ensure that people don’t just import and sell in the open market,” the minister said.
The minister also stated that the government intends to digitise the firearms registration and sales system in order to better monitor gun ownership across the country.
According to him, the effort will let security services track every licensed firearm and its holder more effectively.
“We are moving to digitalise gun registration. That’s one of the things we are trying to do to make sure that we know every gun that every person is holding,” he said.
He also reminded gun owners that gun licences in Ghana must be renewed on an annual basis, and that all licences expire at the end of each calendar year, regardless of when they were issued.
“Even if you get the licence in November or December, once December 31 comes, it expires,” he clarified.
Source: newsthemegh.com