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| Mr Vincent Kuagbenu, Exec Dir of Nat. Serv Scheme |
At the end of the gathering, it was evident on the faces of most students if not all that the National Service would really be an experience. Not just an experience but one that is thrilling. Students went in for their Personal Identification Numbers from the office of the registrar so as to enable them register online.
Aagh, at last the postings were out. Precisely in the month of October. Many were those who went to internet cafes to check where they had been posted to. My word! You won’t believe it. The website for the National Service posting was even more jammed than the the traffic situation in Accra when Barack Obama visited Ghana. Too stressful! When one finally got through and was able to access the posting, that was also something else! Those who were posted to seeming ‘juicy’ places or organisations were very elated whereas the look on the faces of those posted to remote areas or perceived non-lucrative organisations left a sour taste in one’s mouth.
Having done with the postings, one was to register at the National Service secretariat and thereon at one’s place of posting. That was the beginning of frustration and disappointment. National Service personnel who had been posted to one organisation or the other reported to their place of posting to register only to be told that the number of people required in the said organisation have been met. Therefore, there was no more space available for any service personnel. ‘What! How come? But I just can’t understand why postings for National Service comes this morning and I go to register that very day in the afternoon only to be told the place has been filled up. No, there is something wrong somewhere. I smell a rat!’ These were the words of some disgruntled service personnel when they reported at their various places of posting to register. This disappointment was not for a few but for a sizeable many. The general perception that was drawn among service persons was that, as we put it in ghanaian parlance, there is some ‘connection’ (influence) going on.
Even till today that perception still holds and I am fully convinced that such a shameful act took place. I have decided to place safe, hence, I will not veer into mentioning names of institutions that are culprits of this act. The question on the lips of these disappointed lips were, what do we do next?
These disappointed ones had no choice but to report back to the service secretariat. Interestingly, they were asked to write a petition whereas awaiting for reposting. How annoying and funny! To this end, they forfeited the October and November allowances as the reposting took virtually two months.
Aagh! Lest I forget. My story, my painful story! Some personnel like myself ended up being posted to institutions where our training or qualification had no correlation at all or better still our services would not be needed. I simply did not understand and up until today still do not understand why a Humanities product with no knowledge in Special Education would be posted to a Special School. Unhappy with it, I petitioned the secretariat for reposting and I was reposted to a different institution. I thought my predicament had ended but when I got to the National Theatre to register, I found my mouth agape when I was told vacancy for service personnel had been exhausted. What do I do? I had no option than to report back at the Special School and take up the post since I was not prepared to wait anymore. What a pity!
The period of National Service at the Special School was heartbreaking and very boring. Can you believe that in the almost one year stay at the Special School, there was never an occassion I was called upon to carry a responsibility. I could not teach the children because I had no training in special education.
I therefore had to find for myself something to do. Therefore, I got busy with reading newspapers from start of work to the close of work. I thought I was the only one in this situation but I found out that many others, both friends and acquaintances were in the same situation as me. Some said they went to the office to sleep whereas others saw it as a fun club as they went to the office to share jokes and laugh their hearts out. I recall two of my friends telling me how their superiors had asked them not to bother in coming to work since there was no work to be done. However, when work comes they would be called.
The question that then arises is, is the National Service Scheme worth it? An emphatic NO is my answer. In my desire to find out about the situation of other service personnel in other institutions especially those in government institutions, I noticed that a greater number had nothing to do with their various places of posting. So then, if I could ask what is the essence?
