President John Dramani Mahama has reassured the state that his administration will seek to the implementation of the National Service Authority Act to make the service more robust.
He says he will task the Minister in charge of the sector to present a Legislative Instrument (L.I.) to Parliament to that effect.
As part of the reforms the President seeks to introduce, he has promised to introduce a short military training as part of the scheme.
The training, which hitherto, took half of the period of national service was cancelled along the way.
But the President believes reintroducing it will help instill discipline in the youth who will subsequently introduce it at the work place for enhanced productivity.
“To achieve a legally robust regime to govern National Service, I have also tasked the Minister for Youth Development and Empowerment to coordinate and present to Parliament a Legislative Instrument (LI) to support the implementation of the newly passed National Service Authority Act 2024 (Act 1119).
“We will introduce short military training as part of our national service scheme. This will instill a sense of fitness and discipline into our youth,” the President assured in his maiden address to the nation Thursday, February 27, 2025.
Meanwhile, the President bemoaned the opaqueness in the dispensing of scholarship in the country, saying beneficiaries are usually cronies of the party in power whilst deserving brilliant but needy students are left behind.
President Mahama has promised to introduce transparency at the secretariat and expunge the challenges at the sector to ensure smooth delivery and fairness.
“The administration of scholarships is another challenge. It has been fraught with many challenges. The poor who genuinely need scholarships are unable to access them because the rich always crowd them out.
“To fulfil my government’s vision of promoting transparency, equity, and sustainability in the scholarship scheme, we shall streamline the award process to ensure that only deserving youth benefit from the system. We shall introduce increased transparency, including publishing the list of beneficiaries every year,” the President assured.
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