GHANA 2014 BUDGET

The Ghana Mine workers Union of the TUC has noted with concern government's abrupt unilateral decision to withdraw the military and other state security personnel from mining concessions of the major mining companies.

Mr Eric Gyimah is the Deputy General Secretary of GMWU.

In a statement issued in Accra and signed by its Deputy General Secretary, Eric Gyimah, the Union recalled how it congratulated government recently when it decided to provide security for the formal subsector of the industry when it became the target for indiscriminate scramble by illegal miners aided by the Chinese and other Ghanaian collaborators.

The statement said the industry is heavily challenged with the falling prices of gold and other metals on the international market coupled with other challenges culminating in the threat of more than 4,000 mine workers likely to lose their jobs.

In this regard, the least the mine workers Union expected government to do was to add to the burdened industry to aggravate an already turbulent development in the mining sector describing the withdrawal as untimely, unwelcome and counterproductive.

The Ghana Mine Workers Union on behalf of the over 20,000 members therefore urges government to reconsider the policy decision adding that it must allow the status quo to remain until such a time that the Chinese and other foreign led ‘galamsey’ menace are eliminated or brought under control.

GBC

MARRIAGE VOWS

This was a post a came across as i go through my daily act of reading and keeping myself updated with current issues around. Credit to www.citifmonline.com for posting such a nice story. My dear reader i know you will like it.

"I promise to love, honor and obey until death do us part."

I said those vows but no one told me it would be like this. Did getting married and saying those vows really mean spending every moment together? I mean, we enjoy spending time together, but I am starting to question whether or not there is such a thing as being too close. Could we unintentionally be causing strain on our marriage by too much togetherness?

As life's circumstances have changed, so has marriage. You will have many competing interests for your time, resulting in you and your partner spending every "free" moment with each other — talking, playing, having sex, and just being with one another. You might be telling each other everything, bringing not only the office but the office gossip home, too. You are not doing it on purpose; it just happens. If this sounds familiar, it may be time to take a look at what you are bringing into the marriage and whether or not it's productive for you and your partner.

Here are three things or topics to consider leaving out of your marriage and together time.

1. Work: Many companies have started operating in a "do more with less" environment. (Do more with less but not with the increased pay, I might add). You might find yourself spending more time at work, possibly traveling, and becoming closer to people at work. Every day as soon as you get home, you share with your spouse all the ins and outs of your day at work. This includes who got a bad performance appraisal, who has a crush on whom, who has problems at home — it keeps going. Yes, you want to share everything with your spouse, but should you?

I remember a story that I was told many years ago about a man who had a stressful job but a very happy marriage that had lasted many years. Each night when he came home, he would rub a rock that he placed outside the door of his home. He explained that rubbing the rock was the reminder to leave all his work problems and issues at work, and to be a husband and father when he walked in the door. So stop and think how much time you spend venting and raving about what is happening at work. Your spouse may not have a clue about who or what you are really talking about, and may not want to hear the same stories every day. In an effort to avoid this rut, try coming home a few times a week, "rubbing the rock" at your door, and just be in the moment.

2. Compromising Too Much: There are times when we should experience new things with our spouse. But what happens if you're just not jazzed about your spouse's favorite activities? A great example is video games: Gaming is a hot industry, and it's not just for children. Adults of both sexes and all ages escape through games.

Your spouse may love playing games, but you will never be at the same skill level, and you only get frustrated when you play. In fact, your stomach cringes every time you are asked. How do you feel when you are playing, or after you play? Resentful? Angry? The quality time you thought you were going to share just turned out to be only time spent; time you won't get back. The resentful and unhappy feelings you have when you continue to do something you really don't want to can build up over time and put distance between you and your spouse. Don't be afraid to let go and free your spouse to do something they enjoy without you. Which leads us to the next thing to consider …

3. No 'Me' Time: You have spent so much time doing what makes your spouse happy, something got lost along the way: you! Do you remember the things that brought such a sense of peace and joy? Do you remember the things that you wish you still had time for? What would your marriage be like if you took the time to do something that brought you pure peace and joy each week? It could be as simple as reading a book, taking a yoga class, taking time to meditate, reading the bible, or shooting a few golf balls on the range. You would begin to raise your anabolic energy level, which in turn would raise the anabolic energy in your marriage.

I leave you with a challenge: Try to implement one thing that would take away the quantity of time you spend with your spouse and replace it with quality time with your spouse. You'll be sure to see a difference!

And a final thought to females reading this post — as my friend Lauren Solomon says, "don't treat your husband like your furry girlfriend!" I couldn't agree more.

DISCIPLINE SECURITY AGENCIES

The issue of discipline is what every society wants to see for effective development. Today I bring to my cherished readers an editorial from Daily Graphic/Ghana on Discipline.

Discipline is the hallmark of any security agency.  Men and women who work for these organizations must show by example that they are disciplined. It is generally believed that in the security agencies, the personnel have no right to question any directive but just obey them and later ask for explanations. Laws, regulations and policies are meant to regulate society, so that it does not degenerate into a state of nature. In spite of the legal framework, there are various security breaches for which the security agencies, especially the police, are called upon regularly to restore order. The Ghana Police Service has, over the last few years, deployed personnel and logistics to vantage points in Accra and other cities, as well as on the highways, to fight crime and give space to law -abiding citizens to go about their endeavours. We have thousands of security personnel, majority of whom are very disciplined and law abiding.
Unfortunately, some of them are dragging the name of the agencies in the mud. The worst spectacle is the open extortion of money from motorists by policemen and women who are deployed on the roads to ensure that motorists abide by traffic regulations. The Inspector-General of Police has personally arrested certain policemen for extorting money from motorists, but even with that intervention from the top, some policemen cannot make a departure from these disgraceful acts. The Daily Graphic is not surprised that the Director-General of Police (Technical), Commissioner of Police (COP) Mr Frank Adu-Poku, has raised concern over the growing indiscipline among personnel of the service. He said unlike in the past when discipline was the hallmark of the personnel, the situation today was appalling. The Daily Graphic thinks the time has come for the Police Administration to clean the service of the bad lots in order to restore the good image of the service. The open demand for or extortion of money from motorists gives a very bad image of the Police Service as an institution whose personnel visit fraud on the citizenry. Majority of the personnel are doing quite well in maintaining law and order, but just as it is said that one bad nut can destroy the reputation of society, the few bad policemen and women give the impression that the police are very corrupt. The global corruption index cites the police as one of the most corrupt institutions, but all the same, the police are playing a critical role in the sustenance of peace and democracy in the country. We should, therefore, weed out the corrupt elements within the service to allow the patriotic ones to lead the crusade to eliminate all criminal gangs in our society.

ECONOMIC GROWTH IN AFRICA

His Excellency John Mahama delivered a lecture on Ghana’s evolution as a democracy and its growing economic development at the Kennesaw State University’s event which was dedicated to Ghana, 

Below is the full statement delivered by President Mahama 
It is a humbling moment for me to address this gathering today on the role of democratic governance and sustainable economic development in Ghana, as the country continues to distinguish itself as a model for the continent. 

I salute the rich history of this great University as well as its sustained effort in pushing the edges and consolidating the liberal values of American society. 

I appreciate this opportunity to interact with you today on how we can enhance our collaboration to improve our governance systems, consolidate fundamental principles of personal empowerment and to meet our economic objectives. The Africa we all knew, no longer exists, and in the next half hour I will explain the current opportunities on the continent and the new policy directions that are implied by them. Earlier this year, we celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the African Union. 

In Addis Ababa, we spent just a few hours celebrating. The rest of the time, we assessed the opportunities and challenges for Africa in the next fifty years and the plans that we must together agree on and implement in order for Africa to claim the future. This is the only way Africa can redeem its past and forge a peaceful and prosperous future for its people. For far too long, Africa has been discussed in both academic and policy discourses with pity and extreme pessimism. There is an obvious need to recalibrate the global narrative about Africa, especially in the context of the many positive developments and the enormous potential of the region, going forward. 

This narrative of pity has been instrumental in shaping the policies and tactics of international development assistance including of NGOs, tapping into the generosity of individuals who make charitable donations. 

That industry has for decades spawned an international marketing ploy embedded with the most negative popular representational images of Africa, the better to raise billions of dollars ostensibly in aid for a dying continent. 

It is time to reverse that narrative, using the platforms we just used in New York, during the UN General Assembly debates and this platform here at Kennesaw. 3 As we make interlocutors like you intimately familiar with the fast-paced changes occurring in Africa, we calmly, but effectively undo the widely accepted representation of Africa as the Dark Continent. Yes, Africa is a dark continent, but it is dark only in terms of the deliberate absence of illumination, an illumination that will portray to the rest of the world a continent rich, virgin, budding, peaceful, friendly, continuously learning, ready to do business. 

The thrust of my message appears to ignore the vivid and scripted images of ethnic conflict, political instability, dictatorial governments, a region lacking economic opportunities, with high levels of abject poverty, and where millions die of HIV/AIDS. 

Commenting on this pessimistic view of Africa in the 1980s, Professor Ali Mazrui, one of Africa’s finest academics said: “Africa is the first habitat of man but it is the last to be made habitable; Africans are not the most brutalized of all people but probably the most humiliated in modern history; African societies are not the closest to the West culturally but have been experiencing the most rapid pace of westernization; Africa is not the poorest of all regions of the world in terms of resources but it is the least developed…” 

In that Africa of the 1980’s, it was projected that the number of Africans living in abject poverty will increase into the distant future rather than decrease, as the HIV/AIDS pandemic also exerted pressure on government resources. 

This was the Africa of the last century. That period included what was generally described in development discourse as the “lost decade of Africa”. My first book, titled “My First Coup D’état”, is centered on stories from that lost decade to Africa. The African story is partly a story of frozen narratives. 

We must be careful to undo the freezing in time of the narrative of the “lost decade”. Africa is currently undergoing tremendous transformation, but its success stories are suffocated by two mutually reinforcing factors: growing and powerful special interests in the poverty industry; and a growing international media environment that prioritizes negativity in Africa over everything else on the continent. 4 As a historian, I am intimately aware of the capacity of historical narratives to define or redefine, imprison or liberate a continent and its people. We must begin the project of scripting a true narrative of Africa that is liberating and progressive.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Africa you should know about is the Africa, which has since

the year 2000 witnessed increases in GDP from 15.9% to over 22% last year. It is the Africa, which barely two years ago, received its largest ever share of global direct foreign investment amounting to some 80 billion dollars. 

It is the Africa where such investment is projected to double from the 2011 figure by 2015, barely two years from now. Three years ago, 10 of the 15 fastest growing economies in the world were in Africa, and we anticipate that 7 out of the world’s 10 fastest growing economies in the next 5 years will be in Africa. Those countries include Ghana. 

The continent’s cumulative GDP of $1.5 trillion is also projected to double by 2020. In today’s Africa, information technology, especially in the area of telecommunications, has provided the continent an unprecedented opportunity to leapfrog. 

I know because I was Minister for Communications. While telephone connectivity in the region was just one-tenth of the global average in the mid-1990s when I was Minister, the sector has witnessed a 20% growth rate. In Kenya for instance, over 70% of the adult population rely on mobile phone technology for financial services such as money transfers and banking. And a few years ago, Ghana used SMS technology to gather the views of Ghanaians on the gains and deficits in its Constitution and how these may be remedied. 

Africa overall, has been experiencing a tremendous amount of economic growth and is generally adjudged to be the second fastest growing region in the world in the last decade. 

There are strong indications that Africa’s GDP will continue to expand as new frontiers of national economies and investment opportunities shift global investment capital in her direction. 5 Contrary to the “lost decade” view that poverty in Africa will continue to increase, the opposite is the case. Several studies have seen a decline in overall levels and patterns of poverty. 

My country Ghana was among ten others from Africa that were honoured for achieving the MDG target of halving poverty in advance of the MDG target of 2015. Although income inequality remains a challenge for most governments in the region, there are indications of a gradual fall in the income inequality gap in more than a dozen countries in the region. The greatest testimony to the enviable economic future for Africa is this: whilst the world is still recovering from the global economic crisis, African economies have not only been able to withstand financial crisis, but have continued to show robust growth. High Commodity prices, advances in information and communication technology, and diversification of our economies to include growth in the services sector, have helped to drive this process. We recognize that as mineral exports make up roughly half of our continent’s exports, we are vulnerable to commodity price shocks. This vulnerability notwithstanding, Africa will continue to benefit from increasing world demand for the region’s natural resources: oil, natural gas, minerals, food, and arable land. 

Africa today still has about 10% of the world’s oil reserves -and this is likely to increase as more and more countries in the region, like Ghana, discover more oil; 85% of the chromium and platinum group of metals; 40% of the world’s gold reserves; and 60% of the world’s uncultivated arable land. Our greater challenge is to put in place systems to allow these resources to be used for the benefit of our people. 

While most in the world are growing older and pensions systems are being restructured to accommodate the challenges presented by the greying of the population, Africa’s population is relatively young and growing younger. 6 Our peculiar demographic dynamic presents opportunities. 

Our advantage lies in an overall youthful population, a rapidly growing workforce, and a declining dependency ratio. Several studies suggests that about 122 million people will be added to Africa’s workforce by 2020, and demographers forecast that by 2035, Africa’s combined labour force will be the largest in the world, surpassing those of India and China. 

Africa’s population also has its urbanization dynamics. There are presently 52 African cities with more than 1 million inhabitants. Recent demographic projections suggest that by 2030, about 50% of Africanswill make their dwelling in cities. In Ghana, 51% of the population already lives in cities or urban areas and earlier this year, I launched Ghana’s Urban Policy as a measure to be adequately prepared for the new demographic dynamics. Currently estimated at over 350 million, Africa’s middle class is expected to expand especially as more Africans pursue opportunities in the cities. 

The opportunities are tremendous. The growth in a youthful working population with preference for urban dwelling means opportunities for investment in communication technology, energy infrastructure, housing, social security, multi-modal transport networks, quality education, healthcare systems, and the public services.

The opportunities also present spaces for simultaneously pursuing transformation, inclusiveness, freshness, innovation and creativity in these sectors. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, the African Renaissance I have just described did not happen by chance. The tremendous economic growth, spurred by peace and stability, African creativity, unique African hospitality and all the other things you will love when you visit Africa, had a stimulus. 

The democratization processes initiated by many African states since the early 1990s instituted rules that made it possible for ordinary Africans to once again retain the power to hire and fire their leaders. 7 With the power of their thumps, ordinary Africans installed and removed their leaders. The guns and the machetes are fast being retired. 

In instances like in Mali, where some African countries stray, a collective continental effort has been instituted to bring them back on track. 

I was proud to join fellow African leaders in Mali the week before last at the investiture of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta Across Africa, there is a renewed belief that continuing on the path to accelerated growth requires the normalization of electoral competition. 

A growing number of Africans have resolved not to allow themselves to be used as instruments of political violence. More Africans are coming to terms with the fact that it is normal for elections to be vigorously contested, and where votes are fairly recorded, disputes can be resolved by the institutions mandated to do so.

Recent developments in many African countries, including the peaceful resolution by Ghana’s Supreme Court of the petition challenging my election as President, are clear signs that both political actors and their followers are converging around the view that institutions are not only the rules of the game, but also the symbol of our collective confidence. 

The trend of peaceful resolution of many presidential election disputes in Africa through legal process arguably serves to debunk the widely held afro-pessimist notion that democracy cannot thrive on the African continent. It has also re-ignited the discourse on the utility of elections as the only instrument of political change. 

Today, the doubts harboured by many at the start of our democratic journey no longer exist, and instead we are viewed with respect and admiration the world over for the able manner in which we have managed our affairs. 

But the experience of other African countries in recent times have shown that where external actors interfere too heavily in our democratic processes, especially in elections, there is a greater danger of political upheavals and possibility of civil strife. Beyond commitments to democratic aspirations at the national levels, one of the key factors driving the positive transformations in Africa is the increasing cooperation 8 among the current generation of leaders in the region. Our forbearers were not any less committed than we are, but we live in an era of globalization. 

And like any new generation aspire to do greater than their forebears have done, a new generation of African leaders came together to proclaim an ‘African renaissance’ resulting in the landmark and far reaching transformations, including continental peer review and oversight. 

This courageous move, without a doubt, has given a renewed impetus to our common quest for freedom and prosperity in our continent and has also restored global confidence in our ability to manage our own affairs and to offer African solutions to African problems. Once again, Ghana was the first country to submit itself for peer review. Ladies and Gentlemen, our successes so far can also be attributed to the transformation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) to the Africa Union (AU). 

In the last decade, the AU has become a vibrant organization in the arena of global governance, and its various structures and institutions are taking shape. We may not have achieved the vision of a continental Union Government, possessing an African High Command, a Central Bank, a common market and a common monetary policy, as originally envisioned. But we have equally important institutions under the current AU structure including the Peace and Security Council, the New Partnership for African Development, the African Peer Review Mechanism, the Pan-African Parliament, and the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights. Together, these institutions and bodies have become the building blocs for a truly strong and vibrant African Union. 

A Union that is making it possible for Africans to review governance practices in other African countries and proactively recommend changes where necessary. Ghana is proud of the role we played in African liberation and again proud of the role we are playing in the African Renaissance. 


By:Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

SERVICE TO THE NATION

 The Ghana National Servive Scheme (NSS) provides newly qualified graduates the opportunity to practically apply the knowledge acquired in school on the job. The Scheme operates under the Ghana National Service Scheme Act of 1980, Act 426 which was repelled with the NRCD 208 of 1973. The law requires every national service personnel to render a mandatory service of two years including a minimum of 6 months military training. However, in 1995, the two year duration was reduced to one year. Personnel are deployed to the private and public sectors to contribute their civic responsibility to the state. The opportunity provides the user agencies to satisfy their man power needs and afford communities that would otherwise have difficulty in accessing mainstream development initiative, access to improved social services through community service.  It is therefore necessary for every qualified graduate to register and serve mother Ghana. Speaking on an Accra based radio station “Citi fm”, public relations officer of the secretariat Ambrose Entsiwah said, “registration is still on-going and it’s expected to end in two weeks or so”. He reiterated that personnel will be deployed to the private, agriculture, and health sector. The educational sector is expected to take about 60 to 65 per cent of the 70,000 to 80,000 personnel to be deployed. Mr Entsiwah again appealed to user agencies to send in their request and gave the deadline to be the 17th of july”. According to him, posting of service personnel will start august.

TEACHING AS A SERVICE PERSONNEL

THE GHANA NATIONAL SERVICE SCHEME
RULES AND REGULATIONS
A. PREAMBLE
The National Service programme is a compulsory one-year service required of all citizens of Ghana who are 18 years and above, at the time of deployment. The Scheme which started in 1973 now operates under Act 426 (of 1980). The objectives of the Scheme are to:

1. Encourage the spirit of national service among ALL segments of Ghanaian society in the effort of nation-building through active participation.
2. Undertake projects designed to combat hunger, illiteracy, disease and unemployment in Ghana.
3. Help provide essential services and amenities, particularly in towns and villages of the rural areas of Ghana.
4. Develop skilled manpower through practical training.
5. Promote national unity and strengthen the bonds of common citizenship among Ghanaians.

The Act mandates the Scheme to mobilise and deploy "any person to whom the Scheme applies to be engaged, full time, in any of the following fields":

a. Agriculture
b. Co-operatives
c. Education
d. Health
e. Local Government
f. Military
g. Rural Development, including surveying, physical planning, civil engineering and rural industries
h. Youth programmes
i. Any other field that the Board may prescribe from time to time.

Any such person shall comply with the directions of the Board.

B. RULES AND REGULATIONS
1. DURATION AND COVERAGE
a. The duration of national service shall be one year for ALL Ghanaian graduates who complete approved tertiary courses. This is regardless of the type of sponsorship of courses, and whether or not such courses were pursued in Ghana.
b. Personnel who did the one-year non-graduate service shall be required to undertake one year post-tertiary national service.
c. The National Service Board shall announce the date for the commencement of national service by all fresh entrants. National service usually commences in the month of September.

d. The Board reserves the right to review the period of service.

2. TERMS AND CONDITIONS
a. The National Service Secretariat is the authority on national service appointments. Heads of User-Agencies should, therefore deal only with personnel who have valid appointment letters issued by the Secretariat.
b. National Service Personnel are subject to all rules and regulations governing the establishment to which they have been posted. However, where such rules and regulations conflict with those of the National Service Scheme, the rules and regulations of the Scheme shall take precedence over those of the establishment.
c. With the exception of study leave graduates/diplomates, all service personnel shall be paid a consolidated non-taxable monthly allowance approved by the Ministry of Finance, which shall be stated on the appointment letter.
d. Study leave graduates and diplomates shall, having passed through the appropriate channels of the Scheme, return to their mother organisations, earn their promotions, if any, and be placed on the minimum level of the new grade. However, there shall be a freeze on their increment and promotions thereafter until they successfully complete their service.

3. MONTHLY ALLOWANCE
Payment of allowances to service personnel shall be made in the following manner:

a. National Service Personnel shall be entitled to the payment of monthly allowances, the level of which shall be determined by the Ministry of Finance.
b. Payment of allowances to service personnel shall be calculated from the date the service person reports for duty and or begins work for the first time at his/her place of posting.
c. National service personnel posted to schools and colleges under the Ghana Education Service, Ministries, Government Departments and establishments shall be paid from funds lodged with the government treasuries by the National Service Secretariat.
d. National Service Personnel posted to Statutory Boards, Corporations and churches or quasi-church organisations shall be paid by those establishments from their own resources.
e. National Service Personnel posted to private companies shall be paid their allowances by those companies. In addition, the companies will pay a service charge equivalent to 20% of their basic service allowance monthly by payment order to the Executive Director, National Service Secretariat. Posting of personnel to these institutions will be made on an understanding of the acceptance of this condition by these institutions. However, private educational institutions shall be exempted from paying this percentage to the Secretariat.

4. POSTING/PLACEMENT CRITERIA
a. The posting/placement consideration of service personnel is determined by an interplay of a number of factors including the following:

i. National programmes
ii. Policy priorities
iii. Courses pursued
iv. Choice of region
v. Requests from user agencies
vi. Human resource demand and supply
vii. Extreme health conditions
viii. Social integration
ix. Regional balance
x. Personnel re-orientation etc.

b. At the request of a Service Person, his/her original place of posting may be changed on health grounds. Written petitions may be accompanied by the relevant medical documents.

5. LEAVES
a. Annual leave
Personnel shall be entitled to a one-month terminal leave in any normal service year.
b. Maternity leave
Where it becomes necessary for a woman on national service to proceed on maternity leave, she would be required to serve for three additional months to make up for the period of service lost. Heads of user-agencies and employers are expected to inform both the Executive Director and the Regional Directors of the Scheme before anyone proceeds on maternity leave and on resumption of duty. While on maternity leave they will not be paid allowances.
c. Allowances in lieu of leave
If for any reason User-agencies are unable to allow national service personnel to enjoy annual leave, the organisations shall arrange to pay one month's allowance, in lieu of the leave, from their own resources.

6. TRANSPORT
Initial transport claims, from the hometowns to the service posts of service personnel posted to Ministries, Government Departments, and state-owned Tertiary Institutions, shall be paid by NSS at existing government rates (as announced by the Ministry of Roads and Transport). After national service, transport claims of these service personnel from their service posts back to their hometowns shall also be borne by the Secretariat. These transport claims cover service personnel only (and may include two normal pieces of luggage, maximum).

Similarly, initial transport claims of national service personnel from their hometowns to their service posts and from their posts back to their hometowns after successful completion of national service for personnel posted to Statutory Boards & Corporations, Universities, Churches or quasi-church organisations & private companies shall be paid by their organisations from their own resources.

7. MISCELLANEOUS ALLOWANCES
a. Car Maintenance Allowance
Where a service person, with his/her own means of transport, is allowed to use such means of transport on authorised official duties, he/she shall be paid maintenance allowance and kilometric allowance, at existing rates applicable, by the establishment or organisation.
b. Overnight Allowance
When a national service person performs out-of-station official duties, he/she shall be entitled to allowances paid to officers of comparable status in the organisation/ establishment.
c. Apart from clothing allowance (where payable), which should be at the level payable to personnel of comparable status, any other allowances to be paid to national service personnel should first be cleared with the National Service Secretariat.

8. ACCOMMODATION
Service personnel may seek assistance from User-Agencies, Local Authorities (including community leaders) and National Service Scheme officers in obtaining modest accommodation. Service personnel who serve as housemasters/ housemistresses, in addition to their duties as teachers in educational institutions, shall be entitled to free accommodation.

9. SUPERVISION
a. All User-Agencies are requested to report the following to the National Service Secretariat, without any undue delay:
i. Date of first assumption of duty of service personnel.
ii. Any disciplinary measures taken against a national service person who exhibits acts of misconduct.
iii. Vacation of post and continuous absenteeism of service personnel.

b. Dismissal of service personnel cannot be effected by heads of User-Agencies without prior consultation with or approval of the National Service Secretariat.
c. Heads of User-agencies are required to submit completed annual report forms duly commented on and signed by the service personnel concerned by the end of May, each year.
d. User-agencies will be required to report (with citation) to the Secretariat cases of outstanding performance by service personnel. They may award such personnel.

10. OFFENCES UNDER THE NATIONAL SERVICE ACT, 1980 (426)
• Evasion
Any person called for national service who is not available or does not report at his/her service post, within a period of three months after close of posting, and without proper authorisation from the National Service Board, shall be considered an evader and the appropriate sanctions shall be evoked under Act 426 Section 28 (c).

• Desertion
A service person that takes posting but does not complete the full period, without proper authorisation from the Board, shall be declared a deserter and appropriate sanctions shall be applied against him/her. Three months after desertion, the service person shall be declared an evader. Any national service rendered before desertion will be nullified and personnel on reporting back to the National Service Secretariat shall be made to start the service afresh

• Self-posting
Service personnel who post themselves to establishments/institutions other than those, to which they were officially posted, either with or without the connivance of the officials and Heads of those establishments, shall be declared self-posters and the service with the establishment shall NOT be recognised as national service, and the appropriate sanctions shall be applied against them.

• Absenteeism
National service personnel who absent themselves from work without approval of their Supervisors/Heads of the institutions/establishments will forfeit their allowance for the number of days they were absent. The daily allowance shall be calculated based on the number of working days in the month.

Where the service person is being paid through the Government Treasury, the amount shall be deducted at source and paid to government chest.

For Service Personnel working with Statutory Boards, Corporations, Universities, Banks, Churches or quasi-church organisations and private establishments, the amount shall be deducted at source and paid into the coffers of the organisation concerned. Such service personnel shall be issued with an official receipt.

11. EXEMPTION FROM NATIONAL SERVICE
Candidates for national service may, on application, be exempted from service by the Board, on production of valid documentary evidence establishing that:

i. They have undertaken national service at an earlier date.
ii. They have attained or will attain the age of forty (40) years on commencement of that year's national service

12. DEFERMENT
The following categories of service personnel may apply for deferment of service:

a. Graduates who have trailed some courses and cannot accept posting by the National Service Secretariat.
b. Personnel with extreme cases of ill health.

All applications for deferment, supported by relevant documents, shall be submitted to the National Service Board through the Executive Director or Regional Director for approval. It should be noted that until the Board gives approval, deferment should not be considered as having been granted.
13. NATIONAL SERVICE CERTIFICATE
A service person shall be issued with a certificate of national service after the successful completion of the service. An annual report form duly commented on and signed by the service person should have been completed by the supervisor and forwarded to the Regional Director by the end of May each year.

NB:

The National Service Board reserves the right to:

i. Withhold or refuse the award of a national certificate where the above conditions have not been fulfilled.
ii. Request a service person to repeat the entire period of national service upon reports that his/her service has not been satisfactory.
iii. Reward service personnel who offer outstanding service in a fitting manner.

14. MILITARY TRAINING
There shall be military training at an appropriate military establishment. Any information regarding the period, selection, procedures, etc., shall be made known to personnel at the appropriate time.

15. WELFARE
a. Medical care
All service personnel and volunteers, as citizens of Ghana, are advisedly required to review their health insurance status and ensure that they have a valid registration under the National Health Insurance Authority. This is to enable them access appropriate medical care, when necessary, in approved health insurance institutions.

b. Accident while on official duty
In case of an accident while on official duty, the User-Agency will be required to provide appropriate support that may be needed for the speedy recovery of the service person or volunteer concerned.

c. Death while in service
In case of the death of a national service person or volunteer, the establishment in which he/she served shall pay the government- approved funeral grant to the bereaved family.

d. Emergency welfare cases
All emergency welfare cases concerning personnel or volunteers should be quickly reported to the nearest District or Regional Secretariat of the National Service Scheme.

16. USER-AGENCY CO-OPERATION
User-Agencies are expected to co-operate with the Secretariat and adhere to these rules and regulations to ensure effective implementation of the programmes of the Scheme, and to continue to be eligible for the services of service personnel and volunteers.
You can visit www.nssghana.org for more information on service.