About 8,000 National Service personnel have had their allowances withheld over suspected fraud.
The payment of service allowances for September and October, is noted to have delayed, and the National Service Secretariat (NSS), in a statement, explained that this was to ensure a “process of authentication and validation of all national service personnel across the country.”
[contextly_sidebar id=”3hfzR7Ui0FFFTvrJNeuaeCRyooQEPYzJ”]“The exercise was necessary as it has exposed a number of irregularities,” the statement said.
As examples of the suspected fraud, the Secretariat noted that, 22 persons are being investigated in the Ashanti Region, nine of which are facing charges.
57 persons have also been arrested in Tamale, and are being investigated by Police.
The NSS is no stranger to instances of fraud, as its former Executive Director, Alhaji Alhasan Imoro, and over 20 others, were interdicted when GHc 7.9 million was found to have been paid to 22,612 ghost service persons, in more than 100 districts in July 2014.
A Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) report, suggests that between September 2013 to August 2014, Alhaji Imoro, oversaw the bloating of the NSS payroll with as many as 31,516 ghost names for National Service postings, and the National Voluntary Service recruitment.
The adoption of the e-zwich biometric platform was one of the measures instituted to prevent such widespread corruption and fraud.
The NSS has also urged service personnel who have not biometrically registered to do so, because they were not captured for payment of the September 2017 allowances.
“All such national service personnel are therefore advised to visit the designated centres in Accra, Kumasi, or Tamale without any further delay to complete their biometric registration for their names to be validated for payment of allowances due them.”
October allowances
Auditing of payment vouchers for October 2017 allowances has been concluded, the statement also indicated
“Payment would be done immediately the biometric validation is also concluded”. Management of the Scheme has meanwhile appealed to the general public to assist them by providing information to the security agencies on people who are impersonating for national service.”
Find below the full statement
NSS PAYS SERVICE PERSONNEL ALLOWANCES FOR SEPTEMBER, 2017
The National Service Secretariat has paid allowances for 58,000 national service personnel in the public sector for the month of September, 2017 into their individual e-zwich accounts. About 8,000 others have their allowances on hold and are under investigation for suspicion of impersonation and disqualification from doing national service.
Service personnel are therefore required to go to designated e-zwich service points to load their cards to access their allowances. Payment of the allowances was delayed as a result of the process of authentication and validation of all national service personnel across the country. The exercise was necessary as it has exposed a number of irregularities. In the Ashanti region for instance, 22 people were arrested and put under investigation, nine (9) of whom are currently facing court charges.
In Tamale, 57 people have been arrested and are currently under police investigation. National service personnel are to note that, in line with an earlier statement issued by the Acting Executive Director, all national service personnel who have not biometrically registered were not captured for payment of the September, 2017 allowances. All such national service personnel are therefore advised to visit the designated centres in Accra, Kumasi, or Tamale without any further delay to complete their biometric registration for their names to be validated for payment of allowances due them.
Management wishes to assure all national service personnel that auditing of payment vouchers for October, 2017 personnel allowances have been concluded, and that, payment would be done immediately the biometric validation is also concluded. Management wishes to appeal to the general public to assist the Scheme by providing information to the security agencies on people who are impersonating for national service.
Signed
HON. MUSTAPHA USSIF
ACTING EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR THE MEDIA
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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com