Vincent S. Kuagbenu, a former Director of the National Service Scheme (NSS), believes that making national service optional rather than required will not help to fulfill the reason it was established.
He believes that many communities that currently benefit from the services of NSS personnel will be impacted by Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s proposal to make national service optional for graduates when they are elected president in 2025. Bawumia is also the flag bearer of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).
Speaking in a Thursday evening, February 8, 2024, radio broadcast on Citi FM in Accra, the former head of the NSS claimed that the Vice President was introducing the optional portion of national service because he (Bawumia) had not completed national service himself.
Records from the National Service Secretariat, he claims, show Vice President Bawumia did not complete his national service.
He said, “We have people like Bawumia skipping national service,” and “We must keep protecting this (NSS).”
When he heard Vice President Bawumia’s suggestion for national service, Mr. Kuagbenu expressed his disbelief, saying, “I was most scandalised hearing Vice President say this.”
He claims that the national service program enables recent graduates to acquire marketable talents and that the vice president “doesn’t want the youth to develop their skills.”
In order to improve the service’s functioning, the former head of NSS instead advocated for more funding to be added.
