The Ghana National Service Authority’s acting director has promised that from Thursday, February 13, all unpaid allowances from August through December will be reimbursed to service members.
Mr. Felix Gyamfi credited President John Mahama’s prompt action for resolving their financial difficulties.
He addressed the long-standing problem of late payments when speaking on Joy FM’s PM Express on Wednesday, February 12, and reassured military members that the administration had put their wellbeing first.
“We should be grateful to President John Mahama. 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,” Gyamfi said.
He clarified that the President ordered the full payment of all arrears as soon as the statistics were provided to him.
“So from tomorrow [February 13], service personnel will start receiving all arrears due them from August, September, October, November, and December,” he confirmed.
According to Mr. Gyamfi, the scheme’s financial stability has been severely damaged by years of corruption and poor management, which is why there have been ongoing payment delays.
“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.
Gyamfi disclosed that the President is actively contemplating the prospect of raising the service allowance.
“I think President Mahama understands the circumstances that we are in, and having reduced the corruption, the thievery, and the scheme by that much, I’m sure already he’s thinking about, ‘Okay, can we claw back some of the money that we have saved?’ So it’s in the pipeline a little bit,” he disclosed.
Felix Gyamfi’s remarks imply that the government is actively seeking a solution to the long-standing demand by service members for an increase in their allowances, which they have made in light of growing inflation and the cost of living.
His comments suggest that talks are continuing to modify the ¢715 stipend to a more sustainable amount, even though no timeframe has been established.
Source: myjoyonline.com