Mr Henry Nana Boakye, National Organiser of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has strongly criticised the Fourth Estate’s investigative report on alleged irregularities at the National Service Authority (NSA), calling it “shoddy work” and “lazy journalism.”
Speaking on Eyewitness News on Citi FM on Tuesday, February 18, Mr Henry Nana Boakye accused the Fourth Estate of failing to conduct proper verification before publishing its findings.
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“It’s a shoddy work, it’s a lazy journalism. They didn’t do any proper verification,” he asserted.
He explained that the NSA carries out four different types of postings annually, which the report allegedly failed to consider. These include the general postings for public, private, and technical universities, typically released in August or September, as well as postings for teachers in December. Additionally, two cohorts of nurses are posted each year—one in April and the other in September.
According to Mr Boakye, the Fourth Estate’s report mistakenly compared only the general postings figure to the total number of service personnel submitted to Parliament, leading to misleading claims about “ghost names.”
“What they did was that they picked the publication we usually undertake when we are doing the general National Service posting. So, for instance, in 2018, we announced that we had posted 85,000 people, so they picked that figure,” he explained.
He clarified that the NSA presents a consolidated report to Parliament, incorporating all four categories of postings.
“We do that for the general posting, the teachers, the nurses one, and the nurses two, and then we submit all of these figures to Parliament,” he noted.
Nana Boakye insists that the report’s failure to account for the full scope of postings has resulted in inaccurate conclusions, misrepresenting the true figures of the National Service scheme.
