Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Dr. Dominic Ayine has disclosed that after investigations were conducted into the National Service ghost names scandal, Ghana lost over GHC 548 million between 2018 to 2024.
At a press briefing on Friday, June 13, 2025, the A-G gave a breakdown of the monies which he believes were siphoned by suspects in the case.
The Attorney-General disclosed that investigations uncovered that top officials of the National Service Authority (NSA) run a criminal enterprise which siphon huge sums of public funds leading to the country losing over GHC548 million.
“We can confirm that over GHC 548 million [was] lost due to the criminal enterprise at NSS. Ghana lost over GHC 548 million through criminal enterprise operating at the National Service Authority.”
Breakdown of GHC548million
2018/2019 GHC25,857,836.16
2019/2020 GHC21,613,962.24
2020/2021 GHC55,670,584.32
2021/2022 GHC61,383,025.74
2022/2023 GHC350,926,977.12
2023/2024 GHC32,881,157.07
The A-G disclosed that after investigations conducted, 12 suspects will be charged including former Executive Director of the National Service Scheme, Mustapha Ussif, former Executive Director of the National Service Authority (NSA) Osei Assibey Antwi and former Deputy Director in charge of Finance and administration, Gifty Oware-Mensah.
These suspects will be charge for stealing, money laundering, using public office for private gain, conspiracy to commit money laundering etc.
A key suspect whose name have come up consistently in the scandal is the former Deputy Director in charge of Finance and administration, Gifty Oware-Mensah.
Highlighting the central role played by Gifty Oware-Mensah, the A-G said:
“Suspect Gifty Oware-Mensah used a total of 9,934 ghost names to perpetuate said diversion of funds… used NSS data to obtain a loan of over GHC 30 million with interest of 23 percent from ADB… created a company named Blocks of Life Consult with her husband, a lawyer, as one of the directors.”
“Former Deputy Director Gifty Oware-Mensah created and executed a meticulous plan using National Service allowances to secure a loan of GHC 30,698,218 from ADB Bank.”
The NIB probed allegations that thousands of ghost names were used to defraud the state of millions of cedis in NSS allowances.
The government uncovered a significant discrepancy in the National Service payroll, revealing 81,885 suspected ghost names.
This figure represents the difference between the actual number of active personnel and the payroll data submitted by the previous management of the National Service Authority (NSA).
According to the latest findings, there are currently 98,145 active service personnel, a stark contrast to the 180,030 names presented for allowance payment in 2024.
