‘Corruption delayed your allowances, but we’re fixing it’ – NSS boss

Acting Director of the Ghana National Service Authority, Felix Gyamfi, has attributed the persistent delays in paying national service allowances to deep-rooted corruption and mismanagement over the past eight years.

Speaking on Joy FM’s PM Express on Wednesday, February 12, he assured service personnel that the government has taken significant steps to rectify the situation, with long-overdue payments set to begin.

“We should be grateful to President John Mahama. You’ve realised that even before he became president, he was already concerned about the delay in payment of service personnel,” Mr Gyamfi stated.

“The service allowance is a meagre ¢715, and considering the serious inflation issues around us, he sat down, and once we presented the figures to him, he ordered a complete payment of all arrears.”

He disclosed that payments covering August to December will start hitting the accounts of service personnel from tomorrow. “From tomorrow, service personnel will start receiving all arrears due them,” he assured.

Mr Gyamfi blamed years of corruption and incompetence for the recurring delays, stating that the system had been riddled with inefficiencies that prevented timely disbursement of allowances.

“Why has it become so? I think in the last eight years, it all became part of humongous corruption, the incompetence that we had to deal with,” he revealed.

“You wouldn’t understand why a service person’s meagre allowance, due them, would not be paid on time.”

Addressing the question of a possible increase in the allowance, Felix Gyamfi hinted that President Mahama is already considering an upward adjustment, thanks to the elimination of corrupt practices that drained the scheme’s resources.

“I think President Mahama understands the circumstances that we are in. Having reduced the corruption, the thievery, and the schemes by that much, I’m sure he’s already thinking about how we can claw back some of the money that we have saved,” he stated.

With efforts underway to sanitise the system, the NSS boss remains optimistic about the future of service personnel, stressing that Mahama’s intervention has restored financial order and paved the way for possible enhancements to the scheme.

“It’s in the pipeline a little bit,” he hinted. “I’m sure he’s thinking about it.”

While no timeline has been set, his remarks indicate that discussions are ongoing to adjust the ¢715 stipend to a more sustainable figure.

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