This comes amidst Vice President and New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s campaign promise to make the service optional if elected as president.

Executive Director of the National Service Scheme, Osei Assibey Antwi, disclosed this to the media after appearing before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

“We will outdoor a new policy statement, and when it comes out, everything that the public has to know, they will know. The national service scheme is going through repositioning. Once the policy comes out, we will outdoor the policy. Whatever the policy entails, we will get it. As of February 15, we are still working with the old Act. Nobody can work anything apart from the Act working now. I am sure by the end of this month, the new policy would have been signed.”

Assibey Antwi also attributed the delay in the payment of personnel allowances to the late submission of evaluation forms by service personnel.

“You can have the funds, but if you don’t have the data required for payments, you cannot proceed with payments. That is why we emphasize the importance of completing the processes. You cannot submit unedited data to the Controller and Accountant General’s Department. We urge everyone to be time-conscious when dealing with their monthly evaluation forms and to submit them promptly.”