The Head of Accounts at the National Service Authority (NSA), Mark Yaw Danso, has clarified that he was not arrested by the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB) as earlier reported.
He has also set the records straight on the allegations that the NIB detained him in its custody after the supposed arrest.
According to him, the Bureau only invited him as Head of Accounts at the NSA to provide his insight on the ghost names scandal that has rocked the Authority.
His invitation followed that of one Kwaku Ohene Gyan, a former Deputy Director of Operations at NSA, who was taken into custody on Saturday, February 22, 2025.
According to Danso, the NIB invited him to find out what he also knows about the whole scandal as head of accounts at the NSA.
“I’m currently the head of accounts at the National Service Authority (NSA) and I think they thought it wise that they need to call me to question me to get any information on this whole issue,” he said on Ghana Tonight on TV3 Monday, February 24, 2025.
“Tomorrow (today, Tuesday, February 25, 2025) I’ll go back. They need some information that I have to give them. So I wasn’t arrested as indicated on your media. I wasn’t put into custody. I was just invited for questioning,” he clarified.
On the substantive issue of ghost names on the Authority’s register, Danso denied knowledge of it saying he only took over in December 2024.
He revealed that despite being posted to the NIA headquarters to take over as head of accounts in April 2024, he took over in December.
The Accountant alleged that the man who deputised his predecessor refused to hand over the role due to his political affiliation w ith the then government in power.
Danso disclosed that he had to hang on despite his transfer letter from April to December until the deputy retired in December before taking over.
“I’m new at the National Service as the Head of Accounts, I’m a new accountant there. I was posted there on April 2024 as the Head of Accounts and I took over on 23rd December 2024 so I just took over this very December 2024 as Head of Accounts,” he revealed.
“Actually when I got there to assume office there was one man who was deputising the one who was posted out for him to be replaced. He decided not to hand over to me because of his, close to the political…, it was so many issues that came up that I was just asked to hang on till he retires so around December, he retired and handed over for me to take over,” he explained.
Meanwhile, Gifty Oware-Mensah, the former Deputy Executive Director of the NSA, who was out of sight, has reported that she was with the Black Queens in Morocco for a friendly encounter and not on the run as has been alleged by some media houses.
The ghost names scandal has resulted in significant financial losses for the state, with several high-ranking officials now under investigation.
Alleged NSS fraud: Ghost names include over 90-year-olds – Braimah
