NSS personnel want an increase in allowance

A group of National Service Personnel has petitioned President Akufo-Addo to increase their monthly allowance from the current GH₵599.

The group, which calls itself the Concerned National Service Personnel, wants an upward adjustment over what they described as the rising cost of living.

According to them, they are unable to depend on the current allowance even for their basic needs.

They say that they have turned to borrowing monies from others in order to show up at work.

The leader of the group, Barimah Amoako Elijah, who says although they cannot dictate a particular amount they want their allowance adjusted to, they want the government and the NSS Secretariat to positively respond to their petition.

“Since we are in a situation where because of the COVID-19, more businesses have collapsed, fuel prices have increased and the cost of living has increased. Averagely, service personnel spend about GH¢25 so you can imagine, 30 days will accumulate to over GH¢600, and we taking GHS559 gives us a negative balance.

“Sometimes we have to borrow to get money to go to work so the President should do something about it for us. We can’t give any specific amount, but we want them to increase it,” he said.

All graduates of tertiary institutions in Ghana are mandated by law to complete a year’s mandatory service at various institutions across the country.

They are currently paid a monthly allowance of GH¢559.

The last time personnel witnessed an increase in their allowance was in April 2017.

The allowance was increased from GH¢350.00 a month to GH¢559.04 a month.