The National Service Scheme (NSS) says recent economic challenges are not to be blamed for the delay in the payment of allowances to service personnel.

The scheme explained that it receives funds from government for onward payment to service personnel on a quarterly basis urging personnel to submit their monthly evaluation forms early to facilitate swift payments.

The NSS’ comment comes on the back of some personnel in recent times lamenting the delay in payment of allowances as they reel under economic difficulties.

Acting Head of Corporate Affairs of the National Service Scheme, Ambruce Entsiwah Junior in a Citi News interview assured that outstanding January allowances will be paid by the end of this week while that of February and March will be processed.

“With regard to the delays in payment of allowances, we have paid November and December 2022 already. As I speak to you now, processes are being completed. By close of this week, we will pay them the January allowance. We have got releases for January,” he assured.

He said though the country is going through some challenges, they will ensure that personnel are paid whenever allowance approval is made.

“Every Ghanaian accepts the fact that we have economic challenges. But these things should not necessarily affect us, because prior to this year we submitted our budget for the year, and we have had approval from Parliament. Based on the number of service personnel we were projecting to deploy. We know the numbers from the final year students’ list that we receive from the accredited institutions. So we submit this figure with our budget line. The releases are made to us on a quarterly basis,” he explained.

Ambruce Entsiwah Junior further added that there are ongoing discussions to increase national service allowance from the current GH¢559

“There have been very positive discussions on this matter, in fact, the National Service Personnel Association (NASPA) leadership has raised this matter on several occasions. Our executive director has also on a number of occasions discussed this matter in detail with other stakeholders. I’m aware that the matter has even gone before the board and is generally being discussed for approval”.

Acting Head of Corporate Affairs of NSS added, “the board cannot give the approval without the explicit permission and approval from the ministry of finance, that is the level the discussion has reached. It’s our hope that we will get approval from the ministry. When the ministry also gets the approval from cabinet we will be able to implement what the state can afford to pay”.