LET THERE BE ORDER AT NSS

Thursday October 29, 2009

Events unfolding at the headquarters of the National Service Scheme (NSS) have the potential of creating a serious national crisis if not properly handled and on time too.

Over the last few weeks, tension at the headquarters has gone high following a number of allegations by the workers against the acting Executive Director, Mr Vincent Senam Kugbenu.

The workers have cited intimidation, a gross disrespect and unwarranted orders from the director as the cause of their agitations.

The Executive Director, however, believes there is a power struggle at the Secretariat and that those making the allegations against him are those who are not comfortable with his desire to put in place measures to deal with corrupt practices.

The Ghanaian Times, like most Ghanaian, believes these are issues that cannot and should not be swept under the carpet.

We are concerned because we recongnised the crucial role the scheme plays in the socio-economic development of the country.

The longer the problem remain unresolved, the more work at the secretariat is effected.
The accusations and counter-accusations from the two parties are unproductive and unnecessary.

They only lend weight to the saying that when two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers. In this case it is the fate of the service persons that is being toyed with.

Already, the secretariat has a lot of problems to deal with, including the placements of service persons and this perceived power struggle is bound to worsen matters.

The NSS Board, in our view, has so far not handled the issue well.

In a statement, the board tried to play down the resignations of the entire accounting staff as mere media speculation and in the same breath said “the timing of the resignations threatened maximum disruption to the functioning of headquarters secretariat and the scheme”.

And to ensure the smooth running of the accounts section, arrangements had been made with the Controller and Accountant-General for immediate replacements.

That to us was not the best way of addressing the issue.

But the question is – should we allow the personal interests of individuals and group of individuals to derail the running of the NSS and for that matter the general progress of the nation?

The answer is obviously an emphatic no! This country is bigger than any individual and we therefore, call on the Ministry of Education to bring the “warring” factions to order before further harm is done.

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