A former board member of the National Service Scheme (NSS) has revealed that the current corruption syndicate at the scheme has existed for over a decade.
“It predates the period I entered the board. In my estimation this system would have taken shape in the period where my predecessor left the direction of national service,” he added.
Dr. David Percy made the comments on the Citi Breakfast Show on Friday, following reports that the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) investigations at the NSS showed that a total of GHC7.9 million was paid to 22,612 non-existent national service persons in more than 100 districts in July 2014.
[contextly_sidebar id=”Cfy6urlV5uTgwLroTanxsVYxBKe9a6PE”]Dr Perssy who was a member of the NSS board from 2009 to 2013, said he believed that such corrupt practices were happening even during his tenure but alleged that the board could not address it due to challenges with the director.
“The board was consistently excluded from the workings of the national service scheme,” he said.
“We brought it to the attention of the necessary authority. I can say that all the way up the highest level….it got to the knowledge of the appointing authority,” he said but added that the situation did not change.
According to the BNI about 23 directors tried to bribe the investigators with GHC200, 000 and food items to have the findings concealed.
The release of the findings has however generated a public outcry, prompting Ghanaians to call for the prosecution of the persons involved.
According to Dr. Perssy he is not surprised by the findings by but blamed it on what he described as “systemic nature of the problem.”
“In my own assessment if we are to define it as a sector, corruption is the single biggest sector of our economy. Its systemic, it’s evasive,” he expressed.
So far twenty national service district directors have been picked up.
Sources from they BNI say buses had been deployed to the various districts across the country to transport apprehended directors found to have played various roles in the loss of huge sums of money to the state.
–
By: Godwin Allotey Akweiteh/citifmonline.com/Ghana