Director for Corporate Affairs at National Service Scheme (NSS), Armstrong Esaah, has refuted claims that the scheme owes personnel three months arrears in allowance.
He revealed that personnel have been paid up to December, 2021. Acknowledging the concerns of personnel over delayed allowances, Mr. Esaah emphasized that the scheme owes personnel only two months arrears. Addressing the concerns of NSS personnel, he expressed government’s resolve to pay personnel their January arrears by Wednesday, March 23, with subsequent payment of February arrears.
“The National Service Scheme owes the National Service personnel two months, thus, January and February… We do accept the concerns and the plights of the National Service personnel regarding the delay in the payment of their allowance, but it must be established that we owe them for the month of January and February”.
Armstrong Esaah
His comments followed a number of National Service personnel lamenting about the delay in the disbursement of their monthly allowance. The personnel revealed that the delay in the payment of their allowance has made life difficult for them, particularly in the wake of the current economic hardship.
Re-posting of personnel
Mr Esaah, commenting on the issue of re-posting, revealed that his outfit does not encourage re-posting of NSS personnel. He explained that mass re-posting has the ability to affect the entire operating system of the NSS, insisting that“our entire data would be broken down, if we do so”.
“When postings are done, Management of the National Service Scheme does not encourage re-posting and we are happy that when the new Executive Director came, he reinforced it and directed all Regional Directors to see to it that nobody, including head office workers, entertain reposting. But, there are some conditions under which a National Service person can apply for re-posting”.
Armstrong Esaah
Following this, the Director for Corporate Affairs at the NSS emphasized that a National Service person can apply for re-posting on health grounds, explaining that persons with disabilities are also considered under this condition.
“The Executive Director gave direct instructions to the Regional Directors that if anybody comes there with a special need (is a person with a disability) that person should be re-posted to wherever he or she wants”.
Armstrong Esaah
Additionally, Mr Essah noted that pregnant women will also be considered for re-posting. He expressed that due to the fact that the Scheme does not want to post pregnant women far from their place of residence, they have the permission to apply for re-posting.
“Aside from these conditions, NSS believes that mass re-posting is not applicable under any other condition”.
Armstrong Esaah
On March 19, 2022, the General Secretary of the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS), Julius Kwame Anthony, expressed frustration over the delay in the payment of allowance to National Service personnel across the country. He revealed that the failure of government to disburse unpaid allowances over the last three months has elicited challenges for service personnel.
Describing the situation as “very tough”, Mr Anthony intimated that personnel have to pay their own transportation, averaging “about GH¢11 cedis a day”, which can be very cumbersome considering their situation.
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