Mr Paul Evans Aidoo, Western Regional Minister, on Tuesday said efforts to attain a better Ghana is not a preserve of only the government and the working class but also includes the youth who form a majority of the total population of the country.
He stated this in an address read for him by Mr Mark Addi, Deputy Regional Coordinating Director, at the launch of this year's Regional
National Service Week at Takoradi.
The week is under the theme, "National Service in the Drive towards a Better Ghana".
Mr Aidoo said the National Service scheme is useful as its personnel are youthful and energetic, with budding talents as required for the nation building agenda.
He advised service personnel never to think that their posting to a particular place against their preferred choice is a punishment.
Mr Aidoo said in all situations, service personnel must resolve to service the nation, adding, "It is ironical that while young men and women from the United States, Japan, Cuba and other countries readily accept postings to work in deprived and under-served parts of the country, we the citizenry are always bent on staying in Accra, Kumasi, Takoradi, Tema and
the likes".
Mr Aidoo said an issue that calls for concern is the connivance of some officials of the scheme, user-agencies and the personal themselves to swindle the nation.
He said many a time, personnel posted to some places, find lucrative jobs and evade the service.
Mr Aidoo said unfortunately instead of such personnel being punished to deter similar acts, they are rewarded with a part of their monthly allowance for no work done and the rest going to some officers at the service office.
Mr Silas Natoma, Regional Director of the National Service Scheme, said 5,413 service personnel were posted to the Region last year and out of this figure, 3,965 were posted into the teaching profession in rural areas.
He said problems facing the scheme in the Region included the lack of accommodation, lack of means of transport for monitoring and lack of
cooperation between some user agencies and administrators of the scheme.
Mrs Rebecca Dadzie, Regional Director of Education, who presided, commended the NSS for helping to fill vacant places in schools recommended by the Ghana Education Service (GES).
She said the NSS is not an avenue for service personnel to aim at material gains but a way of introducing the youth to the real challenges of the society.