The Fourth Estate has strongly refuted claims made in a joint press release by Mr. Osei Assibey Antwi, the immediate past Director-General of the National Service Authority (NSA), and Mr. Mustapha Ussif, a former Executive Director of the NSA.
The press release was issued in response to The Fourth Estate’s investigative report exposing the presence of ‘ghost names’ in the NSA database, leading to potential financial losses amounting to millions of cedis.
The former NSA directors, in their statement, sought to discredit the report on four key grounds, including the claim that The Fourth Estate’s projected figures on ghost names did not account for nursing and teacher trainee postings.
They also argued that the presence of overaged persons, duplicated names, fake index numbers, foreign photos, and manipulated biometric data were mere entry errors that regional verification processes eventually corrected.
Thirdly, the former NSA Directors contended that The Fourth Estate failed to verify its data with the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPPS).
Finally, they asserted that during their tenure, they ensured a robust enrollment and verification system to prevent fraudulent enrollments.
The Fourth Estate, however, maintained that its investigation provides undeniable evidence of widespread fraud within the NSA, with thousands of ghost names embedded in the system.
“Before we respond to the specifics of the claims contained in the release by the NSA former bosses, we wish to state categorically that the gravamen of our investigations is the evidence of the existence of thousands of ghost names in the NSA database, which leads to potential loss of millions of cedis to the State. This is a fact that cannot be denied.”
The Fourth Estate
According to The Fourth Estate, its investigation began in early 2024 after it obtained credible evidence of ghost names within the NSA database. The goal was to uncover financial mismanagement and protect public funds from fraudulent activities.
On October 23, 2024, the Fourth Estate formally submitted a Right to Information (RTI) request to the NSA seeking data on the number of personnel posted and verified for national service from 2020 to 2024.
According to the Fourth Estate, despite the NSA’s claim of having a robust common platform capable of instantly generating such data, the request was denied, and a subsequent internal appeal, as required under the RTI Act, was also ignored.
When attempts to secure an interview with NSA leadership proved unsuccessful, it became clear that the NSA was deliberately withholding information.
Letters were sent to the Director-General, his deputies, and other key officials, including the Heads of Department, Finance, and Administration. The Director-General declined the interview because of his absence from office, while other officials failed to respond.
“We could not also have the opportunity to interview all the other heads. Meanwhile, the NSA had sent a directive to its staff ordering them not to disclose information on postings and enrollment figures to any group seeking that information.
“We wondered and are still wondering why information on the number of service personnel would be a secret that could not be disclosed”.
The Fourth Estate
NSA Database: Evidence of Fraudulent Entries
Moreover, the Fourth Estate pointed out that its findings contradict the former NSA directors’ claims that fraudulent entries were merely data entry errors.
The evidence according to The Fourth Estate reveals that: thousands of fake ID cards, duplicated names, and fraudulent index numbers were systematically entered into the NSA’s database, while many of these fake entries resulted in actual postings, raising questions about the NSA’s verification process.
The Fourth Estate also argued that the presence of overaged personnel in their 60s, 70s, 80s, and even 90s within the database suggests intentional manipulation rather than simple errors.
‘For instance, in the screenshot …(as it is in the case of thousands of others), 82-year-old Mahamadu Ali, a so-called UDS graduate, was posted to Anyinabrim Anglican School in Sefwi Wiawso in the Western North Region. Is that a data So-called regional verification that clears ghost names”.
The Fourth Estate
Regional Verification and Payment Malpractices
Additionally, the former NSA directors had argued that fraudulent enrollments are caught during regional verification however, The Fourth Estate insisted it has evidence proving that individuals with fake IDs and non-existent index numbers managed to pass through verification, receive postings, and even get paid.
“Indeed, Mr Okatakyie Amankwaa Afrifa, the Western Regional Director, who doubled at some point as the director for the Western North region, confirmed non-compliance with the said validation principles in an interview with The Fourth Estate.
“He told The Fourth Estate that each month when giving approvals regarding the number of persons who were present at their respective places of posting in the region, he noticed about 1,243 would have been pre-approved in the system by unknown persons. He said he had complained to management on several occasions about the anomaly but the practice continued”.
The Fourth Estate
This revelation contradicts the claim that payment of service personnel is only made after physical validation. The Fourth Estate emphasized that its investigation shows that in many cases, payments were processed without proper verification, allowing ghost names to siphon millions of cedis from state funds.
The Case of 81,885 Missing Names
Further evidence of ghost names according to to The Fourth Estate is found in a recent government report indicating that the previous NSA leadership requested payments for 180,030 personnel, whereas a headcount revealed only 98,145 active personnel. This discrepancy of 81,885 names suggests a massive payroll fraud.
The Fourth Estate also noted that not all service personnel are posted to government-subvented institutions where allowances are paid by the state., adding that many are posted to private institutions that handle their own payments. This, according to The Fourth Estate raises concerns about why the NSA requested payments for an inflated number of personnel.
The former NSA directors accused The Fourth Estate of failing to verify its findings with GhIPPS however, The Fourth Estate insisted that this claim is misleading.
As part of its investigation, The Fourth Estate noted that it met with the leadership of GhIPPS to request access to NSA allowance payment data.
Following this meeting, a formal RTI request was sent to GhIPPS, which in turn sought the NSA’s consent before disclosing the requested information. Instead of cooperating, the NSA refused to authorize the release of the data.
Subsequently, GhIPPS wrote back to The Fourth Estate, citing concerns that releasing the data could damage its financial interests and breach confidentiality agreements with the NSA.
This blatant refusal to allow access to payment records in the view of The Fourth Estate raises serious concerns about the NSA’s transparency and the extent of financial mismanagement.
“We wish to emphatically state that the NSA data is replete with ghost names. Indeed, in January 2024, the immediate past director who jointly signed the statement in question wrote to the Ministry of Finance requesting for GHS 13.6million to undertake an exercise that will help clear at least about 5,000 ghost names which will lead to savings of GHS 42.9 million in one year.
“If there are no ghost names, what was this request, as recent as 2024, intended for?”
The Fourth Estate
The Fourth Estate stood firmly by its investigative findings and maintains that the NSA database contains thousands of ghost names, leading to significant financial losses to the State.
It emphasized that the refusal by the former NSA leadership to release basic enrollment data, the verified presence of fraudulent identities in the database, and the irregularities in monthly payment validation all point to systemic corruption within the NSA.
The Fourth Estate challenged the former NSA directors to publish actual, disaggregated data to support their claims that no ghost names exist, asserted that unless this is done, their defence remains unconvincing.
READ ALSO: Irrigation for Wealth: Building Resilience in Ghana’s Agricultural Sector
