The Auditor-General has released a damning forensic audit report into the operations of the National Service Authority (NSA), uncovering financial irregularities and systemic control failures that led to an estimated loss of GH¢2.45 billion between 2018 and 2024.
The report, titled Forensic and Technical Audit on the National Service Authority (NSA), reveals a deeply entrenched culture of impunity, weak oversight, and deliberate manipulation of payroll systems, resulting in widespread payment anomalies, ghost names, and unauthorized transactions.
According to the audit, the core of the scandal lies in the deliberate disregard and circumvention of critical internal controls within the Centralized Service Management Platform (CSMP), the digital system designed to streamline enrolment, posting, and payment processes for National Service Personnel (NSP).
The CSMP, which includes robust accountability mechanisms, was intended to eliminate human interference and ensure transparency. The system’s controls included three levels of approval for class list uploads, biometric validation at both regional and district levels, seven layers of approval for verified nominal rolls, and system-generated payroll master lists to prevent manipulation.
Despite these safeguards, the NSA management, the report noted, “deliberately disregarded or bypassed these controls, sometimes issuing indemnities to GhIPSS to override security features.”
“The systemic disregard was at the core of the irregularities identified by the audit,” the report stated, adding that the CSMP itself remained fit for purpose but had been undermined by human interference and weak institutional accountability.
Eight Major Categories of Irregularities
The forensic audit uncovered eight major categories of irregularities amounting to GH¢2,448,202,404.46. These irregularities primarily stemmed from payments made without proper validation, unsupported transactions, and repeated breaches of control procedures on the Ezwich and GhanaPay payment platforms.
The report detailed that GH¢989,032,520.38 was paid without biometric or monthly validation, while GH¢40,104,660.18 went to unverified volunteers. Another GH¢301,935,899.82 represented unverified or unsupported payments to vendors operating on the National Service Marketplace.
Additionally, irregular payments exceeding the stipulated 13-month service period amounted to GH¢1,017,827,083.99, while GH¢28,537,647.17 in deductions could not be accounted for.
Further scrutiny revealed that GH¢8,256,000.00 was paid to former officials who were no longer in service, while another GH¢7,508,592.92 represented payments that did not appear in the CSMP database.
The audit also flagged GH¢55 million in unaccounted banking transactions, underscoring deep-seated weaknesses in cash management and reconciliation processes.
While the reported total irregularities stood at GH¢2.45 billion, the Auditor-General clarified that the figure may change should respondents provide sufficient and appropriate supporting evidence.
Nonetheless, the report emphasized that the magnitude of the losses underscored “systemic weaknesses in payroll controls, database integrity, and vendor management,” and highlighted the urgent need for stronger oversight mechanisms within the NSA.
Misconduct Involving NSA Officials and Affiliated Entities
Beyond these broad irregularities, the audit also uncovered specific instances of misconduct involving NSA officials and affiliated entities. One of the most notable findings was the payment of GH¢20,234,468.18 in National Service funds to two internal staff members — Mr. Jacob Yawson and Mr. Gaisie Abraham Bismark.
Mr. Yawson, a former IT officer in the Northern Region, received GH¢18,822,869.82 through his company, Nyansapo Comp Ltd, while Mr. Bismark, the former Head of Deployment, was found to have received GH¢1,411,598.36 through his firm, CONABPOWER.
Both transactions were executed via the Ezwich platform without requisite oversight or justification. The audit also identified unsupported payments totaling GH¢9,276,535.00 to the National Service Personnel Association (NASPA).
According to the findings, these funds were disbursed without any formal agreements or memoranda of understanding between the NSA and NASPA to define their purpose or the conditions of use. The report stated that “there was no evidence of accountability or retirement of the funds by NASPA leadership to justify how the monies were applied.”
Perhaps most alarmingly, the audit found that personnel with invalid or ineligible ages — including individuals below 18 years and some purportedly aged over 100 years — had been enrolled and paid allowances totaling GH¢1,973,583.04.
“Records even showed negative ages in some instances,” the report noted, describing the anomaly as “indicative of gross negligence and a failure in basic data validation.”
In another finding, the report cited the irregular enrolment of a senior NSA official, Miss Gifty Afia Oware-Aboagye, the former Deputy Executive Director of the Authority, on the National Service payroll during the 2021/2022 service year.
Despite already being a full-time salaried public officer, she was enrolled as a service person under the NSSGST4842621 number and placed on the NSS payroll. The audit discovered that all her monthly allowances, totaling GH¢6,708.48, were redirected through the Marketplace for a purported credit facility.
“She was enrolled along with 4,556 others irregularly, costing the state GH¢899,350,” the report revealed, noting that the approval for her PIN was signed by then-Executive Director, Hon. Mustapha Ussif, on 22nd April 2021.
Duplication of National Service Numbers
Further analysis uncovered duplication of National Service numbers linked to multiple Ezwich Unique Serial Numbers (USNs), resulting in irregular transactions amounting to GH¢149,960,667.35.
This manipulation allowed for payments to be made to different accounts under the same service number — a sophisticated form of payroll fraud enabled by weak system controls and lax supervision.
The audit also exposed other control weaknesses, including the absence of key project documentation for the CSMP and Metric App procurement, lack of segregation of duties in payroll processing, excessive use of protocol-based postings, and repeated manual overrides of automated controls.
These breaches, the report said, collectively undermined the system’s integrity and facilitated large-scale manipulation of enrolment, posting, and payment records.
In its conclusion, the Auditor-General stated that the financial irregularities uncovered reflect “systemic abuse of process and disregard for accountability.” The report called for sweeping reforms to restore integrity and transparency in the NSA’s operations.
Among the key recommendations were the immediate cancellation of all private and manual enrolments, strict enforcement of biometric validation before posting, and the elimination of all manual overrides in the CSMP.
The Auditor-General further recommended that payroll management for National Service Personnel be transferred from the NSA to the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department (CAGD) to ensure independent oversight and proper financial control.
“To prevent recurrence, all postings and validations must occur strictly through the CSMP with full audit trails and automated alerts for suspicious activities,” the report advised.
The findings have sent shockwaves through the public sector, reigniting debates about the persistent culture of weak accountability and the misuse of state resources.
With the NSA’s reputation under scrutiny, the Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Dr Dominic Ayine, has already commenced criminal prosecution against two former executives, Osei Asibey Antwi and Gifty Oware Mensah, assuring more charges would be filed in the coming days against others implicated in the scandal.
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