National Service Scheme assures payment of personnel allowance

The National Service Scheme (NSS) has assured Service personnel of the payment of their January allowance.

The Scheme in an interview with the media denied that recent economic challenges are the cause of the delay in payment of allowances to service personnel. They disclosed that funds from the government on a quarterly basis for onward payment to personnel have been received and urged personnel to submit their monthly evaluation forms early to facilitate prompt payments.

This statement from the NSS follows recent complaints from some personnel about the delay in receiving their allowances, which has caused them economic difficulties.

However, Ambruce Entsiwah Junior, the Acting Head of Corporate Affairs at the National Service Scheme, assured in a Citi News interview that the outstanding January allowances will be paid by the end of this week, while those for February and March will be processed.

“With regard to the delays in payment of allowances, we have paid November and December 2022 already. As I speak to you now, processes are being completed. By the close of this week, we will pay them the January allowance. We have got releases for January,” he assured.

Despite the challenges the country is currently facing, he assured that personnel will be paid as soon as allowance approval is granted.

“Every Ghanaian accepts the fact that we have economic challenges. But these things should not necessarily affect us, because prior to this year we submitted our budget for the year, and we have had approval from Parliament. Based on the number of service personnel we were projecting to deploy.”

“We know the numbers from the final year students’ list that we receive from the accredited institutions. So we submit this figure with our budget line. The releases are made to us on a quarterly basis,” he explained.

Ambruce Entsiwah Junior also mentioned that discussions are currently underway to raise the national service allowance from its current amount of GH¢559.

“There have been very positive discussions on this matter, in fact, the National Service Personnel Association (NASPA) leadership has raised this matter on several occasions. Our executive director has also on a number of occasions discussed this matter in detail with other stakeholders. I’m aware that the matter has even gone before the board and is generally being discussed for approval”.

“The board cannot give the approval without the explicit permission and approval from the ministry of finance, that is the level the discussion has reached. It’s our hope that we will get approval from the ministry. When the ministry also gets the approval from cabinet we will be able to implement what the state can afford to pay” the Acting Head of Corporate Affairs of NSS added. 

SOURCE: Coverghana.com.gh