- Security officers get relief as gov’t Interior Ministry clears 2025 rent allowance arrears
Ghana’s Ministry of the Interior says it has settled the outstanding 2025 rent allowance arrears owed to personnel of the Ghana Prisons Service, Ghana National Fire Service, and Ghana Immigration Service in a move aimed at easing pressure on officers after months of delayed payments.
In a statement dated March 2, 2026, the ministry said the government had released funds to cover the arrears for all eligible personnel across the three services. It also thanked affected officers for their patience during the delay.
More importantly, the ministry said the payment process has now been mechanised, with rent allowances to be processed and paid together with monthly salaries starting from March 2026. That change is intended to prevent a repeat of the backlog and bring greater predictability to an entitlement that many officers depend on for household stability.
The announcement is significant because rent allowances are a major benefit within the security services. For many personnel, they form a core part of welfare support, especially at a time when housing costs and broader living expenses remain elevated. Delays in such payments can quickly feed frustration and weaken morale within the services.
The ministry said it would continue to work with the Ministry of Finance and other stakeholders to ensure the timely payment of allowances and other entitlements. That detail matters in light of the recent controversy over the 20 per cent tax deduction on rent allowances, which the Interior Ministry later said was applied at source by the Finance Ministry under existing tax law, not imposed by Interior itself.
Taken together, the arrears payment and the later tax dispute reveal the increasingly delicate politics of security-sector welfare. On one hand, government is trying to show responsiveness by clearing backlogs and mechanising payments. On the other hand, deductions from those same allowances risk fuelling fresh dissatisfaction among officers who are more concerned with their net support than with which ministry is responsible for the adjustment.
