At least 79 people are being investigated by police for suspected fraud in the payment of national service personnel allowances.
The National Service Secretariat (NSS), in a statement, noted that about 8,000 National Service personnel have had their allowances withheld over the suspected fraud.
[contextly_sidebar id=”PiBQHKhz28w3RxoU3X7IeMEwMeTSe8MR”]The payment of service allowances for September and October are noted to have delayed because of processes designed to weed out such instances of fraud.
The NSS explained that “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,” the statement added.
The adoption of the e-zwich biometric platform was one of the measures instituted to require the needed verification and reduce 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.”
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