The National Service Authority (NSA) has distanced itself from deductions made from the allowances of national service personnel, stating that the GH¢60 deducted for capacity-building purposes was a decision taken by the leadership of the National Service Personnel Association (NASPA), not the Authority.
The clarification follows complaints from some national service personnel who say deductions were made from their monthly allowances without prior notice or their consent. Many have argued that the current monthly allowance of GH¢715 is already inadequate to meet transportation, feeding and other living expenses, making the deductions an additional financial burden.
Speaking on JoyNews Today on Tuesday, July 21, the Deputy Director of the National Service Authority, Lieutenant Colonel Moses Kpeungu, explained that NASPA is an independent association with its own elected executives who make decisions separate from the Authority.
“NASPA is an association of national service personnel. They have executives. The decisions of NASPA are not the decisions of the National Service Authority,” he said.
He added that the Authority is not represented at NASPA executive meetings and only becomes aware of decisions after they have been taken.
“They have a national president and other executives within the association. So if they take a decision, I’m not part of their meetings. Any time we have meetings, we are not part of the executive committee,” he stated.
GH¢60 deduction approved by NASPA
Lieutenant Colonel Kpeungu said the NSA was informed after NASPA executives had agreed to deduct GH¢60 from personnel allowances to support capacity-building activities.
“The decisions are taken at that level. And then we are informed of the deduction process. So this issue of deductions, we were informed that they had a meeting and then they agreed that 60 Ghana cedis will be deducted,” he explained.
He stressed that the Authority neither initiated nor approved the deduction.
“It is not a decision of the National Service Authority. It is a decision of the National Service Association,” he said.
Insurance deductions to be investigated
The Deputy Director acknowledged that deductions had been made from some personnel’s allowances but said the only deduction he could specifically address was the GH¢60 capacity-building levy.
Regarding concerns over insurance-related deductions, he explained that any insurance policy taken by a national service person is voluntary and requires the individual to pay the applicable premium.
“If you opt voluntarily for insurance, it is not free. You have to pay for it. The Authority is not responsible for insuring national service personnel. So if you, as an individual, decide to take up an insurance policy, the deduction would have to go through,” he said.
He added that any deductions not properly authorised would be investigated and corrected.
NSA promises prompt resolution
Lieutenant Colonel Kpeungu cited a recent incident in the Ashanti Region where a national service person was mistakenly deducted an amount from her allowance. He said the error was corrected immediately after it was reported.
“I got a complaint from one of my regional directors that a lady who was undertaking national service somewhere in the Ashanti Region was mistakenly deducted some particular amount. It was reversed immediately,” he disclosed.
He assured personnel that the Authority would continue to address legitimate complaints and prevent similar incidents.
“Some of these things happen. But once they come, we will take time to remedy it and make sure that it doesn’t happen again,” he said.
The NSA has urged all national service personnel with concerns about deductions from their allowances to report them to the Authority for verification and appropriate action.
