Mr Vincent Kuagbenu, a former Director of the National Service Scheme (NSS), has stated in a media interview that the Vice President’s decision to make the mandatory national service optional is an indication of his misunderstanding of the scheme.

He argued the Scheme has been of great significance to both deployed personnels and the state, adding that National Service Personnels are paid only 40% of the amount that is paid to the ordinary civil servants, saving the country a lot of money.

Mr. Kuagbenu urged the Vice President to ‘rethink his proposal to reform the current National Service Scheme’ and further argued that the proposal is ‘unnecessary’, especially when there are more pressing matters that demand his attention.

He urged Dr. Bawumia to consider other more effective strategies that will provide employment opportunities to the many unemployed youth in the country rather than abolishing the mandatory National Service Scheme.

“National Service is free. What is paid to service personnel is a stipend. That is about 40% of what graduates will earn if they are employed in the public service or civil service.
“They are rather saving the state billions of cedi…I know for a fact that he [Bawumia] didn’t do national service, so he doesn’t understand how much this country is saving from the services of personnel.”
Vincent Kuagbenu

VEEP Urged To Reconsider Making NSS Optional

Meanwhile, Dr. Christopher Ampadu, lecturer at Pentecost University, has advised the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, to reconsider his decision to make the mandatory national service policy optional when elected as President.

former Vice-President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia — Vice-President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia

In his view, the mandatory National Service offers young graduates the opportunity to serve the country and provides a temporary employment for them. Sharing his own experience as a service personnel some years ago, Dr Christopher Ampadu noted that he was privileged to work under a leader who taught him to be dedicated to his duties and patriotic to the country.

“When we did National Service, it was public service and it was some kind of experience that I think I enjoyed because it gave me an opportunity to work with a chairman and to know his source and ways of serving the nation. For me it was very dedicational”.
Dr Christopher Ampadu

In addition, Dr Ampadu posited that contrary to the Vice President’s claim that companies will be motivated to visit the various campuses and recruit students annually, companies are now recruiting personnels with rich experience in their fields of work.

According to him, the mandatory national service gives young people an opportunity to acquire the experience they need for the job market.

He stressed that the state has failed in creating adequate job opportunities for Ghanaian youth and made a gentle request to the Vice President to maintain the mandatory nature of the service as we have it.

“If we don’t make it mandatory, some people will have jobs, while others may be unemployed. Why don’t you put them through national service, because it helps them to be patriotic”
Dr Christopher Ampadu

The National Service Scheme (NSS), established by the National Service Act of 1980 (Act 426), is a compulsory one year of service for all tertiary graduates in the country.

Personnels deployed by the Scheme are expected to serve across the country in various sectors of the economy with the objective to inculcate the spirit of patriotism in them.

Prospective personnels, often in their final year of study, are required to register with the scheme, indicating their preferred regions and course of study.

A successful completion of the service leads to the award of a certificate which is required by most private and public companies in their hiring process.