The National Service Scheme (NSS) has provided clarification on the GH¢40 fee required from prospective national service personnel for the activation of their PIN codes for the 2024/2025 service year enrolment.
This explanation follows significant public concern and media reports about the Online Enrolment Activation fee.
In a statement dated Friday, June 21, the NSS addressed the uproar, emphasizing that the GH¢40 charge for PIN codes is not a recent development, contrary to claims suggesting it is a new fee.
The Scheme described the publications about the fee as “twisted and skewed,” urging the public to disregard the misleading information.
“The National Service Scheme (NSS) has taken notice of concerns raised by a section of the public regarding the GH¢40 fee required from prospective national service personnel to activate PIN codes for the 2024/2025 service year enrolment,” the statement read.
The NSS criticized the authors of the media reports for not thoroughly investigating the issue, suggesting that the story was deliberately misrepresented to portray the Scheme negatively.
The management clarified that the GH¢40 charge for PIN codes has been a long-standing practice.
“It is clear that the authors of the storyline did not find out much about the issues and rather sought to twist and skew the story to portray the Scheme negatively to the public, as though this was an extortion, as they suggested in their write-up. Management wishes to clarify that the GH¢40 charge for PIN codes is not a recent development,” the NSS stated.
The Scheme further explained that the fee was initially deducted from the first month’s allowances of the service personnel. However, this payment method was revised in 2015, requiring service personnel to pay the fee before enrolment.
“The fee was initially paid through deductions at source from the first month allowances of the service personnel after they have been posted. However, the mode of payment was changed in 2015 to allow service personnel to pay before enrolment,” the statement added.