Story Highlights
- The National Service Personnel Association (NASPA) deducted GH¢60 from the May allowances of National Service Personnel (NSPs) nationwide to fund a “capacity-building programme.”
- Affected personnel say the deduction, reportedly tied to a GH¢12.6 million contract with a firm called Zeus Atlas Ltd, was taken without their consent or prior notice.
- The National Service Authority (NSA) has denied deducting the money itself, saying NASPA — an autonomous body — initiated and negotiated the charge.
- NASPA has suspended the programme, promised no further deductions, and says it is reviewing whether affected personnel will be refunded.
- Some personnel have petitioned the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), the Attorney-General’s Office, and the CID to investigate the matter.
Ghana’s National Service Scheme, which places tens of thousands of graduates in year-long postings across the public and private sectors annually, has for years drawn periodic complaints over allowance payment delays and administrative disputes.
The latest controversy, however, centres on money taken from personnel rather than money owed to them.
In early July 2026, National Service Personnel across the country began flagging an unexplained GHC 60 shortfall in their May allowance payments. The deduction, they said, was processed through the National Service payroll system without any communication beforehand.
A group describing itself as the Concerned National Service Personnel Association of Ghana formalised the complaint in a petition dated July 17, 2026.
It questioned NASPA’s decision to deduct GHC 60 from monthly allowances for a capacity-building programme without consulting personnel.
It also demanded that NASPA specify which provision of its own constitution, or of the law governing the National Service Authority, authorised a compulsory deduction — and whether the NSA had formally approved it.
A separate petition, alleging the involvement of a company called Zeus Atlas Ltd, put a figure on the scale of the arrangement.
According to that document, the deduction was expected to total GHC 180 per service person, collected in three monthly instalments of GHC 60 beginning with the May allowance, and the first deduction was made without prior consultation or the informed consent of affected personnel.
Multiplied across the more than 70,000 personnel reportedly enrolled, the arrangement was said to be worth roughly GHC 12.6 million.
What NASPA Says Happened
NASPA’s account, laid out in a statement on July 19 and later at a press conference, differs in emphasis but not in substance on the central fact: personnel were charged before most of them knew why.
The association said the capacity-building initiative began in February 2026 after official communication from NASPA Headquarters through its recognised channels.
They stated that it was designed to give service personnel practical skills and career-readiness training as they prepared to transition into the job market — with sessions reportedly covering IT, coding, digital marketing, entrepreneurship, project management, and agricultural business.
NASPA said the idea grew out of a 2024 pilot run in the Greater Accra Region that it described as well-received, prompting a decision to scale the programme nationwide after clearance from its National Executive Council.
Crucially, NASPA maintained that the contract with Zeus Atlas Ltd was its own affair. According to Graphic Online’s account of the press conference, the association said that as an autonomous body it had the right to enter into such agreements independently, without oversight from the National Service Authority.
NSA management was only formally notified after the contract had already been signed — a practice NASPA described as consistent with how it has historically operated.
NASPA National President Abdul-Wahab Bala Mohammed defended the programme’s value even while acknowledging the backlash. He said the package represented value for money, especially considering the potential return on investment in terms of future employability
But he conceded that the financial commitment required may not have been reasonable for all service personnel.
The National Service Authority Distances Itself
The NSA has pushed back on suggestions that it deducted the money or sanctioned the charge outright.
Deputy Director-General for Finance and Administration Donkor Fuseini told Adom News that the National Service Authority has not deducted any GHC 60 from the allowances of National Service Personnel and does not have the right to deduct money from their allowances without their consent.
He said the deduction was initiated by NASPA, not the Authority, and that NASPA had only informed the NSA of plans to deduct GHC 15 over four months from personnel it said had voluntarily agreed to contribute.
That account sits uneasily alongside personnel complaints that the full GHC 60 was taken in a single instalment from the May allowance without warning, and alongside allegations — as yet unverified — that NASPA’s new leadership was granted payroll access before the deduction was communicated to affected personnel.
Calls for a Criminal Probe
The dispute has since moved beyond internal association politics. Some personnel, speaking to Adom News, called on the Economic and Organised Crime Office, the Office of the Special Prosecutor, the Attorney-General’s Office, and the Criminal Investigations Department to investigate what they described as an unauthorised deduction.
One personnel member argued that under NASPA’s own constitution, decisions of this magnitude require approval from its full Congress, not just its executives.
Neither EOCO, the OSP, nor the Attorney-General’s Office had, as of this writing, publicly confirmed whether any formal investigation had been opened.
Suspension and Unanswered Questions
Facing sustained pressure, the National Service Authority directed on July 21, 2026, that the programme be suspended immediately.
At a news conference in Accra that day, NASPA’s Mohammed said the association had listened intently to the concerns, frustrations and questions raised by service personnel across the country over the past few days
He gave an assurance that no further deductions would be made in connection with the training scheme.
NASPA also committed to reviewing whether personnel who had already been charged would be refunded, and said details of the total sums collected would be published in due course. The association said it welcomed the NSA’s directive and reiterated a commitment to greater transparency going forward.
What remains unresolved is the legal basis on which the original deduction was made, whether payroll access was granted to NASPA before personnel consent was secured, and how much money — if any — will ultimately be returned.
This article was edited with AI and reviewed by human editors
