General Secretary for the National Service Personnel Association (NASPA), Nana Adu Gyamfi has called for the strict implementation and enforcement of policies to compel service personnel to return to Ghana after their foreign postings.
This comes after President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo launched the National Service Scheme (NSS) policy for 2024-2034 marking a shift towards mobilizing and deploying graduates to areas of national priority to drive national progress.
Speaking in an interview on Campus Exclusive, the NASPA general secretary warned that the country’s human capital is at risk of being depleted if its graduates that will be deployed to advanced countries are allowed to remain there after service.
“I’m not okay with the exporation of the human capital because national service personnel are a group of learned minds. I’m very sure we’ll send our best outside; that means we are losing and indirectly or directly, we are jeopardizing the future of the country. There has to be a strict policy that will compel you to come back if you had any plans of traveling. It shouldn’t be because you are having your service outside. If you come and you feel that it is your dream or aspiration to go back, that is fine. But we shouldn’t just allow you to just leave the country using NSS as a bypass.”
He further called for equity for national service personnel, demanding that those serving abroad receive allowances equivalent to their counterparts in Ghana, amid concerns that unequal pay structures will create unfair conditions for those who choose to serve in Ghana.
“We also have to be in equilibrium with those who may be outside. Whatever the amount you should be paid should be equivalent to that which we receive here. We wouldn’t accept a situation where you are paid about a $500 outside Then you are paid a GH₵715 here in Ghana. That means there wouldn’t be any fairness Because we are all serving our nation maybe in another land.”
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Story by: Michelle Lartey | univers.ug.edu.gh
