Ranking Member on Parliament’s Education Committee, Peter Nortsu-Kotoe, has said that the National Service Secretariat “has no authority to implement insurance policy for service personnel”.

The secretariat announced a GHC15 monthly deduction from each service personnel’s allowance to be used for an insurance package for persons who may face personal crises, but some service personnel across the country are challenging the introduction of the insurance.

Commenting on the development on Class FM’s 505 news programme on Friday, November 3, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Akatsi North constituency told Valentina Ofori-Afriyie that Parliament will have to “invite the Executive Director [of NSS] to come and brief the Committee on how they came to that arrangement that the insurance should be imposed on the service personnel”.

He emphasised that “they don’t have that authority” and wondered “the regulation” the officials used in introducing such an initiative.

He questioned whether any “scientific study has been conducted to show or find out the risk level of the service personnel and how many casualties have been involved, [and whether] the percentage has been alarming”.

For him “they have not been told of any risk by service personnel’s movement to work and so forth, so there should be scientific analyses with empirical evidence based on which they can come to a conclusion”.

He was of the view that “insurance like this is not compulsory and should be by the person’s own volition so it is not proper”.

Meanwhile, other benefits of the initiative spearheaded by various insurance companies include free phone calls and text messages, claims varying from GHS 15,000 in cases of death or incapacitation and GHC3,000 for cases of temporary disability.

In addition, there will be GHC500 loan payable within six months amongst others.