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The beginning of every national service year witnesses a frenzy of activity at the National Service Secretariat.

The reason being that postings are taking place and parents and prospective national service persons apply all the tricks up their sleeves and pull all the strings available to them to get postings to areas that will make them comfortable or to avoid areas that have become more or less like prison camps.

The exercise of making postings is not something anyone should envy as every officer, from the Executive Director to the district directors come under severe pressure to satisfy ministers, board members, neighbours, friends, relatives, church members and of course party bigwigs whose big eyes and long arms are always watching and pulling strings in the whole process.

The question is, why should national service postings become such a huge burden for the managers of the scheme? On the other hand, why should national service postings to certain parts of the country or to certain institutions be seen as wicked and callous acts on the part of the managers?

In trying to answer these questions, we need to trace the origins of the scheme which was introduced by the National Redemption Council (NRC) under General Ignatus Kutu Acheampong. This was backed the National Service Scheme Decree, (NRCD 208) of 1973.

This was later repealed and replaced by the Ghana National Service Scheme Act (Act 426) of 1980, which was enacted by Parliament under the Third Republican Constitution.

The principles and objectives of the service, however, remain the same. Right from its inception, the scheme has as its core objectives, been encouraging the spirit of national service among the youth in the effort of nation-building; to undertake projects designed to combat hunger, illiteracy, disease and unemployment; help provide essential services and amenities particularly in towns and villages of the rural areas; to develop skilled manpower through practical training; and to promote national unity and strengthen the bonds of common citizenship among Ghanaians.

Initially, the law made it compulsory for students of the three state universities, namely the University of Ghana, Legon; the University of Science and Technology (UST), Kumasi, now the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and the University of Cape Coast (UCC) to do one-year national service after graduation.

The duration of the service persons changed to two years after disturbances in the country's universities in 1983 forced the authorities to close them down for nearly one academic year.

Since there were no fresh admissions in 1984 when the universities were re-opened, Sixth Formers were also drafted into the national service scheme.

This was a tactical move to clear the backlog of sixth form students who were stranded because they could not enter the universities.

The number of service personnel has swelled up over the years as a result of the addition of graduates of other tertiary institutions including the new state universities, the polytechnics and the numerous private universities that are springing up everyday.

This year for example, the scheme is deploying 60,700 service personnel throughout the country. With the passage of time, the scheme started to make a gradual shift from its core objectives stated earlier to become more or less an employment avenue for the thousands of youth who graduate each year from the country's tertiary institutions.

The scheme, it is becoming clearer by the day, is no longer a call to national duty, but an opportunity to make money and possibly gain employment after the service period.

That is why there is that mad scramble for juicy places in the towns and cities where national service duties are least needed, as against the rural communities and other depraved sectors of national development which are drained of human resources.

The scheme, if we are to go back to its core objectives, exists to mobilise and deploy young people of 18 years and above on national priority development programmes that contribute to improving the quality of life of the ordinary Ghanaian.

How do we attain this national goal, if service personnel are deployed in offices in Accra and other big towns where they do very little during their service period?

Another important aspect of the objectives was the promotion of national unity and strengthening the bonds of common citizenship among Ghanaians.

How do we achieve this noble objective of national integration if Ghanaians are not prepared to do national service in certain parts of the country?

In a press statement to mark this year's national service postings, the Executive Secretary, Mr Vincent Senam Kuagbenu, reiterated that, “The development issues which ignited the spontaneous response of students and the general public to readily accept the concept of national service four decades ago and availed themselves to offer service to the nation are still very relevant”. Continued    Source: DAILY GRAPHIC - Daily Graphic

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