The National Service Scheme (NSS) has refuted allegations suggesting that it knowingly added fake names to this year’s list of national service personnel. This comes after news broke of some student-teachers at the Kumasi campus of the University of Education, Winneba, on study leave, reported that their names are on the national service list as personnel.
The group of fresh 76 English teachers claimed that they did not register for national service, but their names and index numbers have been unlawfully captured on the list.
They blamed the NSS of having a hand in the matter.
But the National Service Secretariat in a statement denied any wrongdoing.
“Management of NSS wants to state unequivocally that it has no hand in the list of graduates released from the University of Education, Winneba – Kumasi Campus. Management, therefore, views the accusation of NSS of fraud as feverous, preposterous and must be treated with the contempt it deserves,” the statement added. The NSS secretariat also said the matter is being investigated by National Security and the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) to “bring to book, the perpetrators of the offence.”
Below is the full statement from the NSS secretariat:
Rejoinder: UEW students-teachers accuse management of national service scheme of fraud
The attention of the Management of the National Service Scheme (NSS) has been drawn to a Ghanaweb online news article on 16th October 2018 with the above caption.
Management of NSS wants to state unequivocally that it has no hand in the list of graduates released from the University of Education, Winneba – Kumasi Campus. Management, therefore, views the accusation of NSS of fraud as feverous, preposterous and must be treated with the contempt it deserves.
Management wants to state herein that in every calendar year, the Scheme writes to all the Tertiary Institutions in the country to submit a Final Year list of their students who are due for National Service.
On the 24th July 2018, Management received a tip-off that the list submitted by the University of Education, Winneba – Kumasi Campus with which NSS Pin Codes were generated had some names of unqualified graduates for National Service.
Upon receipt of the tip-off, Management wrote a letter dated 24th July 2018 to the National Security Minister with copies to the National Security Coordinator and the Director of Bureau of National Investigation (BNI) requesting for investigation into the allegation and bring to book, the perpetrators of the offence.
Management also held a meeting on the 25th September 2018 with the Authorities of the University of Education, Winneba who promised to investigate the matter and punish any member of its staff found to have compromised his or her position in the said allegation.
It is, therefore, NOT TRUE that Management of National Service Scheme has not acted on the allegation.
Actions Taken
It is important to note that as part of the current technological transformation and innovation happening at NSS, Management has put in place stringent measures to identify and block all impersonators in the NSS Database. It could be recalled that during the press conference, to release the 2018/2019 postings of National Service Personnel on Wednesday 18th July 2018, the Executive Director of NSS, Hon. Mustapha Ussif stated emphatically in paragraph 15 of his statement that the NSS IT system has identified 2,102 impersonators who have been put on hold for further investigation and possible prosecution.
Management has worked and is working with National Identification Authority to biometrically register all prospective National Service Personnel and authenticate same at all the Regional Validation Centres during the deployment registration processes.
The Management of NSS is practising open-door policy and therefore, whoever require further information on its operations should visit our website on www.nss.gov.gh or contact the Executive Director of NSS personally. Thank you.
Issued By: The Public Affairs Directorate, NSS – Accra.
Source: citinewsroom.com