Director-General of the National Service Authority (NSA) Felix Gyamfi has blamed the ghost names scandal on the failure by the former leadership of the Authority.
Over 81,885 suspected ghost names on the payroll of the National Service Authority have been discovered after a recent headcount of active National Service personnel, initiated by the Minister for Finance as a prerequisite for clearing outstanding allowance arrears dating back to August 2024.
At a press conference on Thursday, February 13, 2025, Felix Gyamfi noted that the previous management failed to implement the checks and policies initiated to prevent any ghost names on payroll of the NSA.
“This was a leadership problem. This was a situation where the checks that was put in place to save the taxpayers money was supposed to have kicked in and it didn’t kick in,” he lamented.
Mr. Gyamfi condemned the act questioning how leaders of state entities could be engaged in such corrupt act.
“It’s just so sad that the people who were supposed to make sure that we benefit from engaging service persons around the country are the very persons who failed us.
“How this has happened to our national service is just overly sad and shocking,” he stated.
The Director-General assured Ghanaians that such a scandal will not occur under his tenure as he’s prepared to resist any infraction on the payroll.
“I can assure you that in my tenure as the Director-General of National Service, Ghanaians can take my word for it, there will be no way that ghosts will find their names on the payroll of National Service. I will take responsibility for any infraction on the payroll of the national service,” he noted.
The National Investigations Bureau (NIB) has been tasked with uncovering how these fraudulent entries were created under the previous NPP administration.
President Mahama has also directed the new leadership of the Authority to implement urgent reforms to prevent a recurrence of such fraudulent activities. He emphasized the need for stronger controls and accountability mechanisms to safeguard public funds.
Over 80,000 ghost names found on National Service payroll – Mahama orders probe
