Making national service optional is an unpatriotic approach - NDC MP

Member of Parliament for Builsa South, Dr. Clement Apaak, has criticised Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s policy to make national service optional.

To him, the decision by the presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is unpatriotic.

Presenting what he termed his vision for Ghana, Dr. Bawumia said that to help our youth get jobs, he believes it is time to rethink the concept of our current national service scheme.

To this effect, he announced that his government will propose that those who, after completing their education, can secure jobs be exempted from national service.

"National service will no longer be mandatory, and students will have the option to decide whether to do national service. This will also encourage companies to go to campuses for recruitment annually, he said.

Reacting to this, Dr. Apaak described it as an elitist approach that will only entrench an already worrying class system, stressing that it must not be entertained.

“Reject elitism, reject discrimination, and reject DMB.”

In a statement, he argued that this approach will not solve the challenge of unemployment and will favour only a few.

“The question is, what problem would this fix? Would this address the issue of graduate unemployment? Don’t we have several thousands of graduates trained in all fields looking for jobs? So, what problem is this strange, incoherent, and unpatriotic proposal going to deal with?

"Is it not obvious that the only group of students who may get jobs immediately after school are bound to be the sons and daughters of the social, political, and economic elite? To me, this proposal is a plot to exempt the sons and daughters of the social, political, and economic elite from serving Ghana.”

Read the full statement below


OPTIONAL SERVICE IS UNPATRIOTIC

Among the many inconsequential proposals DMB has tabled is that National Service wouldn’t be compulsory. According to him, students who gain employment immediately after school would be exempted, and this arrangement would allow companies to go to campuses to recruit students directly because they don’t go to the campuses to recruit anymore.

The question is, what problem would this fix? Would this address the issue of graduate unemployment? Don’t we have several thousands of graduates trained in all fields looking for jobs? So, what problem is this strange, incoherent, and unpatriotic proposal going to deal with?

Is it not obvious that the only group of students who may get jobs immediately after school are bound to be the sons and daughters of the social, political, and economic elite? To me, this proposal is a plot to exempt the sons and daughters of the social, political, and economic elite from serving Ghana.

Such an elitist proposal will only entrench an already worrying class system and must not be entertained. Reject elitism, reject discrimination, and reject DMB.

Dr. Clement Apaak
M.P, Builsa South