How does government want National Service personnel to survive? – Ablakwa asks
The Member of Parliament for North Tongu constituency, Samuel Okudzeto, has criticized the government for owing personnel of the National Service Scheme two months in arrears, saying "they signed up for National Service, not National Suffering."
The Member of Parliament for North Tongu constituency, Samuel Okudzeto, has criticized the government for owing personnel of the National Service Scheme two months in arrears, saying "they signed up for National Service, not National Suffering."
According to the lawmaker, it is insensitive for the Akufo-Addo-led government to abandon the young graduates who are rendering their mandatory service to the nation, in these economic hard times.
He bemoaned how difficult it must be for the service personnel as they have not been paid their "current measly allowances" for the months of March and April.
"It is most unfair and insensitive for government to owe March and April allowances of National Service Personnel in these crunch economic times," Ablakwa lamented in a post on his Facebook page, asking: "How does government expect these vulnerable personnel, most of whom have been posted far away from home to survive under the current cost of living crisis?"
Mr. Ablakwa advocated for an increase in the allowances of the personnel to match the prevailing economic conditions.
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"I would have thought government would in the face of prevailing harsh economic circumstances be increasing the current measly allowances and not delaying payments once again."
He went further to entreat the government to clear the arrears owed the service personnel before paying public sector workers for the month of May.
"I call on government to clear all arrears immediately. As I appealed the last time I had to donate my salaries to personnel in my beloved constituency, government should first pay personnel at the end of the month before paying public sector workers as has always been the tradition for decades."
In March this year, the MP donated his entire two-month salary to 87 national service personnel posted to his constituency.
According to the ranking member of Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, the gesture was his contribution to give the personnel some relief as the government has failed to pay them for three months.
"Earlier today I donated my entire two-month salary as MP (January and February 2022) to the North Tongu National Service Scheme District Office as my modest contribution to help cushion the 87 national service personnel posted to my beloved constituency who have not received their allowances from government for some three months.
"I really wish I was in the position to do more to alleviate the plight of these dedicated personnel who gladly agreed to serve their country in my largely rural holy district," Okudzeto wrote on his Facebook page on Tuesday, March 22.
The National Democratic Congress MP is noted for such philanthropic gestures. In December last year, when the government failed to pay trainees of the struggling Nation Builders Corps, Mr. Ablakwa paid the personnel within his constituency and donated food items to them to enable them to enjoy Christmas.
