GhArticles.com Every News in Detail
An investigation by The Fourth Estate has uncovered massive irregularities in the National Service Authority (NSA) payroll, revealing that a single name appeared 226 times as a beneficiary.
Kwaku Krobea Asante, Programmes Manager at the Independent Journalism Project under the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), disclosed these findings while speaking on The Point of View with Bernard Avle on Channel One TV. He highlighted the presence of individuals over 80 and 90 years old on the payroll, as well as fake index numbers used to justify fraudulent entries.
The Fourth Estate initially uncovered the ghost names scandal in November 2024 but was prevented from publishing its report due to an ex-parte injunction obtained by the NSA. The court later lifted the injunction, allowing the findings—spanning 2017 to 2023, including the 2024 service year—to be made public.
Following these revelations, President John Mahama has ordered an investigation into the scandal. Felix Kwakye Ofosu, Spokesperson for the President and Minister of Government Communications, stated that the fraudulent names were detected after a headcount of active national service personnel.
The audit, requested by Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, was aimed at addressing outstanding allowance arrears from August 2024. Upon completion, the Finance Ministry released GHS 226,019,224 to pay allowances for 98,145 legitimate personnel—81,885 fewer than the 180,030 names previously presented for payment by the NSA’s former management.
