Postings for National Service 2022/2023 have just been published and Robert Frimpong, CEO of GreenGem Logistics, a company that sells television sets and mobile phones to National Service Personnel (NSPs), says he is getting ready to cash out, just as he did last year.
Robert has an agreement with the National Service Scheme (NSS) that gives him access to the list of NSPs and their contact details. He advertises his offers to the NSPs through text messages and encourages them to use the ‘Market Place’ button on their portals to purchase from him.
According to Robert, “You basically apply to become a vendor on the platform. Apply to the head office, address to the director. I had my approval from the Director himself. So, just like the NSPs, we [vendors] also have our portal where we see all the personnel and their details like their IDs, pictures and numbers.”
In return, vendors pay an undisclosed amount to the NSS. As Robert puts it, “How for do, in every business you have to pay your way out,” though he would not mention the amount and the frequency of payment.
DPA Files a Case Against NSS
Robert’s dealings with NSS may be cut short soon as the Data Protection Commission (DPC) is filing a legal case against the NSS through its dedicated Public Prosecutor.
Corporate Affairs and Public Relations Manager for the DPC, Annamaria Bismarck Nyame, in an interview, noted that the poor handling of Personnel’s data by the NSS contravenes the provisions of the Data Protection Act (DPA) 2012.
According to her, the NSS is a registered data processor but they do not have a data supervisor who would have drafted a privacy policy to prevent the mishandling of NSP’s personal data.
“They [NSS] are supposed to appoint a data supervisor who would be trained by some of our partner institutions. That person would have become a certified data supervisor andknown that giving NSP’s data out without their consent is wrong. They know this but they have not done it,” she intoned.
Article 40 (1) of the DPA states, “A data controller shall not provide, use, obtain, procure or provide information related to a data subject for the purposes of direct marketing without the prior written consent of the data subject.” The NSS has not upheld this part of the DPA.
NSPs who have received bulk messages from the vendors say they do not remember signing any consent for their data to be given out to third parties. Besides, no part of the NSS Rules and Regulations talks about the usage of personnel data. In fact, the word ‘data’ does not appear even once in the NSS Rules and Regulations document.
Ordeals of NSPs Buying from Vendors
Some recently-graduated personnel who purchased from the ‘Market Place’ have not received their items though deductions have been made from their allowances.
Emmanuel Kwaku Adaboe is a victim. He says, “I bought a fridge and television set from one of the vendors, ‘Option Buy’, in January. The whole thing was about GHC1800. They said they’d deliver two weeks after I pay GHC75.00 for delivery. We are in October; I have not got my items but NSS has deducted me. They even promised me a blender because it was a promotion, but that one too, nothing.”
Another recent National Service graduate, Richard Mortty, says he tried buying a phone from the platform in March 2022, but the transaction didn’t go through. Subsequently, he stopped the process only to find out that he was being debited, though the phone never arrived.
Both of them have tried, unsuccessfully, to get the Scheme to retrieve their items or the money for them. Kwaku says he even wrote to the Director of NSS in July 2022, to report the case, yet he has gotten no concrete feedback.
“The Option Buy” people, their number doesn’t go through and they bluetick me when I WhatsApp them,” he said in frustration.
Both Corporate Affairs and the E-Zwich Directorate at the NSS Headquarters in Accra say they do not know how vendors access the data of NSPs. The E-Zwich department says they only process payments but are not privy to the backend of the system.
In response, Kwaku Adaboe says, “NSS is supposed to be a credible institution. For all these things to be happening, and on top of that they don’t pay the allowances on time, it just shows that the system is really messed up.”
This investigative article contains opinions and evidence from the writer only.
