The former Executive Director of Ghana’s National Service Authority (NSA), Osei Assibey Antwi, and his deputy, Gifty Oware, are expected to appear before a court on Friday, October 17, 2025, to respond to a series of criminal charges related to alleged financial mismanagement during their tenure.
Mr. Assibey Antwi faces 14 counts, including causing financial loss to the state, stealing, and money laundering. Prosecutors allege that the former NSA head sanctioned payments to more than 60,000 non-existent national service personnel—so-called “ghost names”—resulting in the misappropriation of millions of Ghanaian cedis. The alleged offenses are said to have occurred between August 2021 and February 2025.
Charges against Mr. Assibey Antwi are grounded in Ghana’s Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29), and the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2020 (Act 1044).
His former deputy, Gifty Oware, is also facing multiple charges, including stealing, abuse of office, and laundering of state funds. According to filings from the Attorney-General’s Department, Ms. Oware oversaw the diversion of approximately GH¢38.46 million between February 2022 and March 2024 while serving in a supervisory role over the Authority’s finance, audit, and procurement departments.
Prosecutors contend that GH¢31.5 million of that sum was funneled from a loan facility intended to support service personnel into an account controlled by her private company, Blocks of Life Consult. The transfers were allegedly disguised as payments under a hire-purchase agreement for goods never delivered.
Both former officials have denied wrongdoing, though neither has yet commented publicly on the charges. The case has drawn nationwide attention, heightening scrutiny of financial governance in public institutions.
The proceedings are scheduled to begin Friday in an Accra High Court.
