National Service personnel gear up for demonstration on Friday

National service personnel who have completed their service are gearing up for a demonstration on Friday following refusal of the National Service Secretariat (NSS) to pay the August allowance due them. The demonstration is intended to put pressure on the NSS and National Security to release their final month’s allowance due them after several calls on both authorities proved unsuccessful. President for National Service Personnel Association for last year’s batch Vincent Ekow in an interview gave the NSS between now and Friday to release the allowances.  According to him, failure to do so will see all service personnel gather at the popular ‘Obra’ spot in Accra to demonstrate their displeasure. The NSS is responsible for posting tertiary graduates to do a compulsory one-year service required of all citizens in Ghana who are 18 years and above. The programme which begun in 1973 is to encourage communal service and spirit of volunteerism among the country’s youth. Last year, about 68,000 graduates were deployed nationwide to undertake their national service. The NSS failed to pay service personnel their August and final allowance due to an ongoing audit at the secretariat. But Mr Ekow said the allowances are mandatory and "are supposed to be paid no matter what is happening at the NSS". Responding to the issue, Public relations Officer of the NSS Ambros Antsewa acknowledged claims being made by the personnel but said the September 19 deadline which was decided on to pay the allowances, was too short due to an ongoing audit. He stated that an agreement had been reached with the National Service Personnel Association (NASPA) to submit a formal petition to the Education Ministry informing it about the development and include the number of personnel who have not been paid.

Source:Myjoyonline.com