MMDAs told to provide accommodation for service personnel

Alhaji Ali Awinbila, Central Regional Director of the National Service Scheme (NSS), has called on Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) and the traditional authorities, to assist the Scheme to construct transit quarters for service persons.

He said service personnel often faced accommodation problems, especially when posted to the urban centres, making it difficult for them to provide the appropriate service to the country.

Alhaji Awinbila made the call at the maiden Regional Delegates Congress, held in Cape Coast, to afford the National Service Personnel Association (NASPA) Executives from all the districts in the Central Region, the opportunity to assess the achievements chalked by the Association for the 2014/2015 service year.

The programme, on the theme: “Empowering the Youth in Entrepreneurial Skills, the Way Forward to National Development,” also sought to develop an action plan for the Association’s programmes and policies, as well as consider better ways of improving and protecting the welfare of service personnel in the region.

The Regional NSS Director said “for service personnel to approach their task required of them by the nation diligently, they need to do so with clear and peaceful conscience.”

This, he indicated, could be achieved when service personnel had ready-made accommodation reserved for them, to help avoid the hustle some went through in seeking accommodation, which eventually delayed the start of the service.

Alhaji Awinbila further noted that providing such transit quarters would help deal with the situation where some unscrupulous service personnel gave flimsy excuses for the delay in starting the service year.

He commended the Regional NASPA Executives and service persons in the region for their hard work and dedication in serving their motherland.

Mr. Aquinas Tawiah Quansah, Central Regional Minister, gave the assurance that the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) would be working with all MMDAs and chiefs in the region to provide transit quarters for service persons.

He noted, “The time had come for MMDAs to use part of their Common Fund to construct these transit quarters which would go a long way to generate revenue for them annually.”

The Regional Minister called on industries and corporate institutions to make good use of service personnel and tertiary students during vacations, to rake in full benefits for themselves and the entire country.

Mr. Charles Smith, the Central Regional NASPA President, disclosed that all the administrative work of the Association at the various district levels had been completed, to ensure the smooth-running of the Association.

He appealed to the scheme to put in more efforts to ensure the early disbursement of service allowance, since that had been the worry of service persons.

Mr. Smith also entreated institutions of higher learning, civil society groups, religious organizations and the government, to empower the Youth with the requisite entrepreneurial skills.

According to him, this bold approach would help deal with the graduate unemployment situation currently bedeviling the nation.

Osabarima Kwesi Atta the Second, Omanhen of the Oguaa Traditional Area, who chaired the function, said “one major challenge confronting the country was graduate unemployment,” and therefore charged the Youth to bring to the fore their innovative and creative ideas in providing employment for themselves.

The traditional leader urged the delegates to show commitment and dedication to work wherever they were serving, since the future of the country was in their hands.