No uniform for national service personnel

National service in this country is done as a pay

back to the country for the support it has been able to render to the tertiary


students across the length and breadth of the country. National service


personnel in this country have been transformed from farmers to teachers and


now to security personnel there is no problem with that. The wearing of


uniforms by national service personnel as suggested or stated by the service


director Vincent Kuagbenu and others is not the most important subject that


should be discussed now since there are more things that national service


personnel and the national service scheme as a whole needs.


National service personnel within this particular


country do not need uniforms as it is being done in other African countries.


Example, in Nigeria. First of all we need to know the reasons why other


countries prefer uniforms for their national service personnel to other


multi-colored dresses, apart from the fact that it serves as a form of identity


there is no other chief reason why a group must wear uniform. If uniforms are


to be recommended then we need to take into consideration , the population or

number of students that graduate from our various public tertiary institutions


and the number of private tertiary institutions that we are having currently in


Ghana . If the population of students is very huge and therefore they can not


be identified, then there is the need for the uniform to operate but if that is


not the case then i consider that to be unnecessary. Taking Nigeria as an


example every state has its own university and therefore you will get to know


that they are having more public universities than this country and so the


graduates for every year are more than that of this country, which is one chief


reason they are uniformed for identification.


Also there is also the need to consider the


sustainability of this new development, if this is to be done above all other


factual benefits then authorities need to make sure that this will not be a


short run program but will last if not forever then for a very long time. This


should not be a party or a government initiative so that other party or


government will come and change but should be a generally accepted issue or

development whereby every party or government will get to know the benefits to


the nation and the scheme as well.


How is national service personnel treated in this


country when rendering their service to the country? This is a chief question


that all Ghanaians need to ask and the authorities also need to ask themselves


before putting forward such an initiative, national service personnel who are


posted to the rural areas are supposed to be treated well by the government and


other institutions involved so that their stay at that particular regions or


areas will be comfortable. This will prevent them from regretting in servicing


the country with their knowledge and strength.


Another way that the government can help the


tertiary graduates is by recommending any potential student to available


organizations; these organizations can be either private or public. Most


students complete their national service successfully but because there no


vacancies in that particular organization they keep searching till they become

weary. There are most graduates in the country who are not employed all because


of the unwillingness of most organizations to employ them. If the government is


able to give them recommendation letters, there will be a considerable decrease


in the number of unemployed tertiary graduates. The government can do this


through interconnection with the organizations where the graduates offered


their national service. It is very regretting to find out that in this country


there is a group that call themselves the Unemployed Graduate Association of


Ghana (UGAG). This is not their faults because if the government can provide


them with national service areas and regions but can not provide them with


adequate employment then what is the need of national service to the graduates.


If the national service personnel do not get jobs after their service does not


mean that there no jobs available but the government do not care about them


anymore after the national service. The government therefore is selfish,


seeking for its own interest without considering that of the tertiary


graduates.

What the government must know is that not all


tertiary graduates want to start with a white collar jobs, some are even


willing to enter into the educational sector as teachers and so on. What people


must know is that this is a national matter and interest and therefore should


treated as such, this problem of graduates unemployment has been since time


immemorial. These are what are needed and not uniforms for identification


because identification without recommendation is nothing. I am very sorry


service director Vincent Kuagbenu.





Alfred Lamptey


Alfredlamptey88@yahoo.com.