The National Service Authority (NSA) says it did not authorise deductions from the allowances of national service personnel, insisting that a GH¢60 deduction for capacity building was a decision taken by the leadership of the National Service Personnel Association (NASPA).

Deputy Director of the National Service Authority, Lieutenant Colonel Moses Kpeungu, clarified on JoyNews Today on Tuesday, July 21, following complaints from some national service personnel over deductions from their meagre monthly allowances.

Some personnel have expressed frustration over deductions they say were made for items including insurance and other official funds without prior notification or their consent.

They argue that the monthly allowance of GH¢715 is already insufficient to cover transportation, feeding and other basic expenses, and that the deductions have added to their financial difficulties.

The affected personnel are demanding greater transparency from the NSA on how the deductions were determined and who authorised them.

Responding to concerns about the deductions, Lieutenant Colonel Kpeungu explained that the NSA and NASPA operate separately, with the association having its own elected executives who take decisions independently.

"NASPA is an association of national service personnel. They have executives. The decisions of NASPA are not the decisions of the National Service Authority," he said.

"They have a national president and other executives within the association. So if they take a decision, I'm not part of their meetings. Any time we have meetings, we are not part of the executive committee."

According to him, management is only informed after decisions have been taken by the association’s executives.

"The decisions are taken at that level. And then we are informed of the deduction process. So this issue of deductions, we were informed that they had a meeting and then they agreed that 60 Ghana cedis will be deducted," he said.

He stressed that the GH¢60 deduction was not initiated by the NSA but was approved by NASPA for capacity building purposes.

"It is not a decision of the National Service Authority. It is a decision of the National Service Association," he said.

Lieutenant Colonel Kpeungu, however, confirmed that deductions had been made from some allowances, while explaining that the GH¢60 capacity-building charge was the only deduction he could specifically speak to at the time.

"At the moment, we are talking about the 60 Ghana cedis, which was deducted for the purpose of capacity building," he said.

He added that other deductions mentioned by personnel, including insurance-related deductions, would have to be examined individually to determine their source and justification.

The NSA Deputy Director said where personnel voluntarily subscribe to insurance policies, they are responsible for paying the required premiums, as the authority does not provide automatic insurance coverage for all national service personnel.

"If you opt voluntarily for insurance, it is not free. You have to pay for it. The Authority is not responsible for insuring national service personnel. So if you, as an individual, decide to take up an insurance policy, the deduction would have to go through," he explained.

However, he said any unauthorised deductions brought to the attention of the Authority would be investigated and corrected.

Lieutenant Colonel Kpeungu cited a recent case where a national service person in the Ashanti Region was wrongly deducted an amount, which was reversed after the matter was reported.

"I got a complaint from one of my regional directors that a lady who was undertaking national service somewhere in the Ashanti Region was mistakenly deducted some particular amount. It was reversed immediately," he said.

He added: "Some of these things, they happen. But once they come, we will take time to remedy it and make sure that it doesn't happen again."

The NSA has urged personnel with concerns about deductions to report them for verification and possible resolution.