National Service Authority will not shield anyone found culpable — Director-General

The Director-General of the National Service Authority (NSA), Felix Gyamfi, has given a firm assurance that the current management of the authority will wholly cooperate with the mandated state institutions to dig deeper into the circumstances under which numerous ghost names infiltrated the system and caused financial loss to the state. 

He said the discovery of over 80,000 ghost names on the payroll of the authority pointed to a weak information technology system that allowed bad elements to collude and have access to it for parochial gain.

At a press conference, which was held in Accra last Thursday, Mr Gyamfi said the authority was open to a rigorous audit of the current system to detect any flaws that made it possible for the ghost names to infiltrate the system.

He also called on all stakeholders who were interested in cleaning up the system to contact the authorities and share innovative steps to deal with it. 

Context

Last Wednesday, President John Dramani Mahama directed an investigation into the discovery of 81,885 suspected ghost names on the payroll of the NSA.

The Spokesperson of the President and Minister of Government Communications, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, explained that the suspected ghost names were discovered after a headcount of active national service persons.

Mr Ofosu said the exercise was carried out at the request of the Minister of Finance, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, as a necessary step for clearing allowance arrears dating back to August 2024.

He added that upon the completion of the head count, the Finance Ministry had released GH¢226,019,224 covering the payment of arrears for 98,145 actual service persons.

"This figure is 81,885 less than the 180,030 names presented by the previous management of the Authority for allowance payment in 2024," the statement issued by Mr Ofosu added.

Leadership

While commending President Mahama for directing a full-scale investigation into the allegations of ghost names in the NSA system, the NSA boss stressed that persons found to have been engaged in the act must be dealt with according to the law.

Mr Gyamfi said the NSS scandal was a leadership problem because there was no way ghost names could be on the payroll without the tacit support or approval of the Executive Director and the deputies.

"I am careful to talk more on this matter when it is still being investigated, but I can assure you that the NSA will not conceal anyone found to be complicit in this corrupt act," he stressed.

He called on the mandated state institutions to do the necessary investigations to establish the facts of the issue and take drastic action within the law.

He gave an assurance that service persons would be paid promptly.

Reforms

The NSA boss said he would lead the implementation of reforms to plug all loopholes and improve service delivery.

He said those reforms would be anchored on the deployment of appropriate technologies to facilitate the recruitment of eligible service persons, enhanced collaboration with accredited tertiary institutions, and improved communication with prospective user agencies.