The Executive Director of the National Service Scheme (NSS), Mr. Mustapha Ussif, has stated that a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which was not reviewed by the legal department of the scheme will not happen again.
Appearing before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Accounts in Parliament, Mr. Ussif explained that the said MoU was already signed as at the time he was appointed as the Executive Director of the Scheme.
This was disclosed when the 2016 Auditors-General’s report cited the Scheme for signing an MoU between the Scheme and a private organisation for the posting of some 1,875 national service personnel in the 2015/2016 service year, to the private organisation without a legal review.
Mr. Ussif reiterated the Scheme has taken note of the problem, and that such mistake will not be committed again.
Auditors-General’s report on the MoU
The 2016 Auditors-General’s report on Public Boards, Corporations and Other Stationary cited the the National Service Scheme for signing a Memorandum of Understanding without going through the right process.
The report revealed that the Scheme deployed a total number of 1,875 national service personnel in 2015/2016 service year to Melchia Investment Limited, a private organisation, to manage the waste of the various Municipal Assemblies.
It was however noted that the organisation signed an MoU with the Scheme for the service personnel allowances to be paid by the Scheme instead of the organisation that hired them.
The report further revealed that there was no evidence that the MoU was reviewed by the legal department of the Scheme before being implemented.
The report again showed that the MoU was signed by the then Acting Executive Director and witnessed by one Mr. James Agyenim Boateng who is not an employee of the Scheme and his position was also not stated.
The MoU stated that the Company was to provide logistics but this was not clearly defined and attached as an addendum to the MoU.
Source: GhanaJustice/S.Ayisi
