The Acting Director of the Ghana National Service Authority, Felix Gyamfi, has assured National Service personnel across the country that all outstanding allowances will be fully paid starting tomorrow, following a directive from President John Mahama.
Speaking on Joy FM’s PM Express on Wednesday, February 12, Gyamfi praised the President for swiftly addressing the backlog, stating that Mahama has always been concerned about delays in payments to service personnel, even before assuming office.
“We should be grateful to President John Mahama. You’ve realised that 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.
“So he sat down, and once we presented the figures to him, he ordered for a complete payment of all arrears,” he stated.
Mr Gyamfi confirmed that the delayed payments from August through December will be disbursed, bringing long-awaited relief to thousands of service personnel.
“From tomorrow, service personnel will start receiving all arrears due them, from, I think, all the way from August, September, October, November, December,” he assured.
He attributed the recurring payment delays in recent years to corruption and incompetence within the system, suggesting that inefficiencies had deprived service personnel of their rightful allowances.
“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.
When asked about the possibility of increasing the current allowance, Gyamfi hinted at President Mahama’s commitment to improving conditions for service personnel.
“I think President Mahama understands the circumstances that we are in and has reduced the corruption, the thievery, and the scheme by that much. And I’m sure already he’s thinking about, okay, can we claw back some of the money we saved? So it’s in the pipe a little bit. I’m sure he’s thinking about it,” he revealed.
The assurance of immediate payments has relieved National Service personnel, many of whom have endured months of financial strain due to the delayed allowances. With the government’s renewed focus on efficiency and anti-corruption measures, Gyamfi believes service personnel can look forward to a more reliable payment system in the future.
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