A recent audit into the “ghost names” scandal at the National Service Authority (NSA) has uncovered shocking evidence of payments to persons whose ages made them ineligible for national service.
According to the report, individuals over 100 years old including some listed as 1027 years received a total of GH¢115,037.24. Others, aged between zero and 10 years, were paid GH¢889,977.77through 1,570 transactions.
Cumulatively, the report found that persons aged 0–17 years received GH¢1,313,114.29, while those aged 61–100 years were paid GH¢545,401.51.
“Records showed negative ages, such as -3,968 years, enrolled and paid allowances,” the audit report revealed.
The table below presents the specifics of the age groups, number of transactions per age group, amount paid per age group and group summaries of total payment.
Source: NSA Audit Report
Confirmation of Earlier Investigations
These revelations corroborate The Fourth Estate’s earlier investigations, which exposed the padding of the NSA database with over-aged and fictitious names.
For instance, the investigations reported that 93-year-old Nimatu Salifu was listed as a UDS graduate and deployed to Kpiyagi D/A Primary School in the Upper West Region during the 2022/2023 service year. Similarly, 91-year-old Ruth Abdulai, supposedly a Development Studies graduate, was posted to Adakura Primary School in the Upper East Region.
NSA’s Initial Denial
At the time, the NSA strongly denied the reports. On December 16, 2024, the Authority issued a statement dismissing the findings as “untrue” after what it described as a “quick review” of its system.
Former Deputy Executive Director of the NSA, Henry Nana Boakye, also criticised the reports, accusing The Fourth Estate of “shoddy work” and “lazy journalism,” insisting that the NSA’s system was robust enough to prevent ghost names.
Wider Context
The Fourth Estate’s exposé, published earlier this year, had revealed how ghost names and manipulated postings drained millions of cedis from the scheme. The revelations raised critical concerns about value-for-money, data security, and institutional integrity in the management of the CMSP/Metric App.
Following this, the Office of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice launched a separate probe, which found that NSA executives, in collusion with private vendors, had mismanaged more than GH¢548 million through ghost names.
Public outrage over the findings prompted the Office of the President, acting through the Ministry of Youth and Empowerment, to suspend the CMSP/Metric App for a full technical and forensic review.
Source: The Fourth Estate
