The former Directors-General of the National Service Authority (NSA) have strongly dismissed The Fourth Estate’s investigation into allegations that foreign nationals and fake ID cards were used to manipulate the system.
The exposé by The Fourth Estate alleged that former NSA officials registered fake ID cards and foreign names on the NSA payroll, implicating officials who served under President Akufo-Addo’s administration.
In a statement issued by former NSA directors, including Osei Assibey Antwi and Mustapha Ussif, they categorically denied the claims, describing The Fourth Estate’s assertion that fake IDs and foreign identities were used to receive allowances as a “misapprehension” and entirely false.
“The Fourth Estate further claims that the NSA system is full of people who are overaged, bear foreign pictures and have wrong IDs. Based on these, the Fourth Estate concludes yet again, that these are ghosts drawing pay from the NSA. This is a clear misapprehension of the enrolment, verification and payment systems of the NSA.
“Educational institutions provide initial data of eligible persons for national service without any input from the Authority. Private persons are also entitled to register for national service with the Authority. Such entry data is often ridden with several errors, including the kind described by The Fourth Estate, since there is no other data to cross-reference it with, and unscrupulous persons always attempt to override the Authority’s system every enrolment cycle.”
The former directors further explained that personnel verification is a mandatory process to confirm identities.
“During the regional verification process, which all personnel are required to undergo in person, personnel provide identification information, including identification cards, facial biometric and finger biometric data. This information is cross-referenced with the initial data submitted, and personnel with inconsistent information are categorised as banned or made to pend awaiting verification.”
Additionally, they refuted claims that surplus funds allocated by Parliament were misused, asserting that any unspent money remains in the Authority’s coffers.
“The Fourth Estate relies on the above disparity to claim that the NSA payroll has been padded with ‘ghosts’ because monies allocated by Parliament exceed verified postings. Instructively, submissions of personnel lists to Parliament for budgetary purposes are based on the total personnel posted by the Authority.
“However, in practice, not all persons posted end up on the payroll owing to various reasons, including failing verification and failure to show up for the service.
“Any surplus sums after payments by GhiPPS are left in the Authority’s account for subsequent use. The publication by The Fourth Estate is therefore false in suggesting that simply because monies allocated by Parliament exceed verified postings, some ‘ghosts’ are drawing pay.”
The former NSA officials maintained that the investigative report misrepresented the facts and urged journalists to conduct thorough research before publishing claims that could mislead the public.
Ghost names scandal: Manipulation was centralised, regional directors sidelined – Fourth Estate
