Some former and present National Service personnel have strongly protested Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP),’s proposal to make National Service optional.
The service people have expressed concern that the NPP flagbearer should focus on improving working conditions for national service personnel rather than making it optional.
The service personnel claim that the national service term is a time for recent graduates to learn about industries and work ethics, and making it optional will only hurt them.
“I think that National Service should be mandatory because it is a way of giving back to the state. You have to serve the nation for one year, and people also gain experience through national service. Some people are even employed after national service, and so if you make it optional, it is a way of encouraging people to leave the country right after school,” one past personnel said.
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Another current personnel argued that the service must remain mandatory because “it imbues in service personnel patriotism and a way of showing appreciation.”
Meanwhile, Prof. Edward Brenya, a political analyst and the chairman of KNUST’s Department for History and Political Studies, rejected the notion, pointing out that National Service people labor in rural villages. He also stated that now is a time to contribute back to the country as loyal citizens.
“The personnel provide essential services because they serve in areas where people would not have gone, but they are there providing essential services. They are also there when the government is not able to recruit the needed manpower due to IMF conditionalities.”
