- National Service personnel to receive outstanding allowances
- Payments from August to December to be disbursed starting tomorrow
- President Mahama orders payment of arrears to relieve financial strain
The Acting Director of the National Service Authority, Felix Gyamfi, has assured National Service personnel nationwide that all outstanding allowances will be fully paid starting tomorrow, following a directive from President John Mahama.
Speaking on Joy FM’s PM Express, Gyamfi expressed gratitude to the President for addressing the payment backlog swiftly. He noted that Mahama had long been concerned about delays in payments to service personnel, even prior to assuming office. “We should be grateful to President John Mahama. You’ve realized that even before he became president, he had his press worry about the delay in payment of service personnel, especially so when the service allowance is a meagre ¢715, considering that we have serious inflation issues around us. So he sat down, and once we presented the figures to him, he ordered for a complete payment of all arrears,” Gyamfi stated.
He confirmed that the delayed payments from August through December will be disbursed, providing much-needed relief to thousands of service personnel. “From tomorrow, service personnel will start receiving all arrears due them, from, I think, all the way from August, September, October, November, December,” he assured.
Gyamfi attributed the recurring delays in payments in recent years to corruption and incompetence within the system. He suggested that inefficiencies had led to the prolonged denial of service personnel’s rightful 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 because you didn’t understand why a service person’s meagre allowance due them will not be paid on time,” he lamented.
When asked about the possibility of increasing the current allowance, Gyamfi hinted at President Mahama’s commitment to improving conditions for service personnel. “I think President Mahama understands the circumstances that we are in and has reduced the corruption, the thievery, and the scheme by that much. And I’m sure already he’s thinking about, okay, can we claw back some of the money we saved? So it’s in the pipe a little bit. I’m sure he’s thinking about it,” he revealed.
The promise of immediate payments has brought relief to National Service personnel, many of whom have faced months of financial hardship due to the delayed allowances. With the government’s renewed focus on efficiency and anti-corruption measures, Gyamfi expressed optimism that service personnel could expect a more reliable payment system moving forward.
