The government is exploring the possibility of increasing the National Service Scheme (NSS) allowance as part of efforts to ease the financial burden on personnel, Acting Director of the Ghana National Service Authority (NSA), Felix Gyamfi, has revealed.

Speaking on Joy FM’s PM Express on Wednesday, February 12, Gyamfi assured that President John Mahama is prioritizing the welfare of service personnel and actively considering an increment.

"I think President Mahama understands the circumstances that we are in, and having reduced the corruption, the thievery, and the scheme by that much, I’m sure already he’s thinking about, 'Okay, can we claw back some of the money that we have saved?' So it’s in the pipeline a little bit," he disclosed.

Service personnel have repeatedly called for an upward review of the ¢715 monthly allowance, citing inflation and the rising cost of living. While no specific timeline has been set for the adjustment, Gyamfi’s comments suggest that discussions are ongoing.

Meanwhile, the NSA Director has also confirmed that all outstanding allowances from August to December will be disbursed starting Thursday, February 13.

"We should be grateful to President John Mahama. Even before he became president, he had his press worry about the delay in payment of service personnel, especially so when the service allowance is a meagre ¢715, considering that we have serious inflation issues around us," he said.

He explained that once the figures were presented to the President, he immediately ordered the full settlement of the arrears.

"So from tomorrow [February 13], service personnel will start receiving all arrears due them from August, September, October, November, and December," he confirmed.

Gyamfi blamed years of corruption and poor financial management for the persistent delays in payments, arguing that the scheme had been significantly weakened by these issues.

"Why has it become so? I think in the last eight years, it all became part of humongous corruption, the incompetence that we had to deal with because you didn’t understand why a service person’s meagre allowance due them will not be paid on time," he lamented.

With the assurance of cleared arrears and the possibility of an increment, service personnel remain hopeful that their financial concerns will soon be addressed.