The Minister for the Interior, Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak, has announced that he has slowed the issuance of gun licences as part of efforts to tighten controls over firearm ownership in Ghana.

According to the minister, the decision followed his discovery that the existing process for acquiring a firearm licence was relatively simple and did not include sufficiently rigorous checks.

Speaking in an interview on Hot Issues on Sunday, March 15, 2026, he explained that applicants previously only needed to write directly to the minister, after which a background check would be conducted before a licence was approved.

“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 revealed that the ministry is taking steps to regulate the operations of firearm importers in order to prevent guns from being easily imported and sold openly on the market.

“We are moving to streamline the importers to ensure that people don’t just import and sell in the open market,” he stated.

The minister further disclosed that the government intends to digitalise the country’s firearms registration and sales system to improve monitoring of gun ownership nationwide.

He explained that the initiative would allow security agencies to more effectively track every licensed firearm and the individuals who possess them.

“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.

Mr. Muntaka also reminded firearm owners that gun licences in Ghana must be renewed annually, noting 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 explained.