The Concerned National Service Personnel Association has given the National Service Personnel Association (NASPA) a two-week ultimatum to refund the GH¢60 deducted from the allowances of national service personnel, despite NASPA’s decision to suspend the deductions.
At a press conference in Accra, the President of the association, Samuel Ye-largi, said suspending the deduction does not adequately address the concerns of service personnel, insisting that the issues of transparency, accountability and refunds remain unresolved.
He called on NASPA to refund the GH¢60 already deducted from personnel across the country and publish the total amount collected, along with a detailed financial statement showing how any of the funds have been used.
The association also questioned the compulsory GH¢100 deduction for the purchase of the NASPA cloth, arguing that the fact that the practice has existed for years does not make it lawful or transparent.
The group is demanding clarification on the legal basis for the compulsory deduction, whether service personnel were consulted before the deductions were made, the procurement process used to select suppliers, the total value of the contract, the reasons for changing the original supplier, and whether NASPA will make the contract and related procurement documents public.
The association warned that unless NASPA refunds the deducted funds and provides the requested information within two weeks, it will not consider the matter resolved.
“What we are demanding here is the refund of the 100 cedis which was deducted from our allowance to cater for cloth, and we are calling on the NASPA to immediately refund the 60 cedis that they deducted from the poor NSS person,” Mr Ye-largi said.
