The Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa has accused the Akufo-Addo administration of lacking the commitment needed to ensure the National Service Scheme (NSS) functions effectively. 

Sulemana Braimah, speaking on Joy FM’s PM Express on Wednesday, February 12, lamented that systemic inefficiencies and corruption plagued the scheme under the previous government, with projects abandoned midstream and personnel being shortchanged.

“I think that we just need leadership that is committed to ensuring that the system works,” he stated.

“The previous administration, I don’t think had that commitment.”

According to him, millions of cedis were wasted on initiatives that never materialised, while some projects were left to rot even though funds had already been allocated.

He accused certain elements within the system of deliberately creating schemes designed to exploit service personnel financially, using mechanisms that had no real value.

“There were schemes that were developed to basically fleece service personnel of the little that was coming to them,” he revealed.

“One such scheme was something they called marketplaces. And I’m sure Felix Gyamfi [the new Acting Director of the Scheme) should be aware, because as far as I know, he was a district director somewhere, so he would know about the marketplaces scheme.”

Mr Braimah alleged that through this so-called marketplace initiative, unauthorised deductions were made from the allowances of National Service personnel, even in cases where they never subscribed to or benefitted from any products or services.

“Sometimes people who never purchased anything had their monies deducted,” he said.

“This was a well-orchestrated scheme that siphoned money from unsuspecting service personnel, and these are the things we need to investigate.”

Beyond the financial irregularities, he raised concerns about the National Service Scheme’s payment system, questioning whether the established Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) had been tampered with or bypassed to facilitate these unauthorised deductions.

“I think that we need to also look into the payment system,” he insisted.

“As far as I know, payments were being made through GIFMIS. So to what extent was the GIFMIS system bypassed or outwitted? We need to look into all that.”

Mr Braimah’s remarks paint a picture of an NSS riddled with corruption, mismanagement, and inefficiency, exacerbated by a lack of political will to enforce accountability.

His call for investigations into financial deductions, payment mechanisms, and abandoned projects signals a broader demand for transparency and reform in how the National Service Scheme is managed.

For him, the solution is simple: commitment and leadership. Without these, he argues, no reforms or structural changes will truly transform the NSS into the impactful institution it is meant to be.