NSS Personnel To Be Paid Through E-Zwich From 2015

The National Service Secretariat (NSS) has announced changes in the mode of payment of allowances for National Service Personnel. A statement issued by the acting Executive Director of the NSS, Dr. Kpessah Whyte noted that �from January 2015 payment of allowances to all national service personnel at post shall be effected through the biometric E-zwich platform.� The innovation forms part of President Mahama� s commitment to eliminating �ghost names� from the public payroll, according to the statement. Dr. Kpessah Whyte said this will ensure that �payments are made directly to national service personnel by cutting down on the existing long chain of effecting payments.� The payment of the allowances for the immediate past service personnel was suspended earlier this year to enable the Bureau of National Investigation(BNI) to undertake a thorough review of the NSS payments processes after it uncovered massive corruption at the Secretariat. Investigations revealed that about GHC 7.9 million was paid to 22,612 to non-existent national service persons in more than 100 districts in July 2014. The former Executive Director of the NSS, Alhaji Alhassan Mohammed Imoro was subsequently arrested and was remanded. He was however granted bail a GHc90 million bail by an Accra High Court.