An investigation by The Fourth Estate has uncovered alarming irregularities in the National Service Authority (NSA) payroll, revealing that 81,885 ghost names were fraudulently included in the system. The findings, which span records from 2017 to 2023 and the 2024 national service year, point to systemic abuse within the NSA.
Kwaku Krobea Asante, an investigative journalist with The Fourth Estate, disclosed that in some instances, a single name appeared up to 226 times as a beneficiary on the NSA payroll. Speaking on The Point of View with Bernard Avle on Channel One TV, Asante highlighted further anomalies, including the registration of individuals over 80 and 90 years old and the use of fake index numbers.
“Ghost names in the sense that what the NSA tells us as the number of personnel is different from what they have in their data. Which data we believe eventually gets into the payroll and is paid. Now the government has come to confirm,” he explained. “Funny names popping up, a single name could be repeated 226 times—such a person has completed the same university, read the same programme, the same year, and been deployed. A lot of odd happenings in the data, pointing to the fact that some people have intentionally done that.”
The investigative report, initially completed in November 2024, was delayed due to an ex-parte injunction secured by the NSA. However, a court later lifted the injunction, allowing the publication of the findings.
Following these revelations, President John Dramani Mahama has directed a full-scale investigation into the fraudulent payroll entries. Presidential Spokesperson and Minister of Government Communications, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, confirmed that the discrepancies were identified after a headcount of active national service personnel. The exercise, requested by the Minister for Finance, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, aimed to clear outstanding allowance arrears dating back to August 2024.
Upon completion of the headcount, the Finance Ministry disbursed GHS 226,019,224 to cover arrears for 98,145 legitimate service personnel. This figure is 81,885 less than the 180,030 names previously presented by the NSA for allowance payments in 2024.
Meanwhile, Mr Asante also identified key officials who oversaw the NSA during the period when the fraudulent payments took place. These include Henry Nana Boakye (Nana B), former Sports Minister Mustapha Ussif, immediate past Director-General Osei Assibey Antwi, former deputy director Gifty Oware Mensah, and Kwaku Ohene Djan.
However, Asante clarified that the report does not accuse these officials of direct embezzlement but emphasizes their responsibility in overseeing the scheme during the period of irregularities.
“Our point is not necessarily to say that these are people who have stolen money, but our point is that these were people who were in charge of the scheme,” he stated.
