BY Nadia Ntiamoah
Former Deputy Executive Director of the National Service Authority (NSA), Gifty Oware-Mensah, has been granted bail to the tune of GH¢10 million by the Accra High Court following her arraignment over her alleged involvement in one of the biggest public sector financial scandals in recent years.
The embattled former NSA official appeared before the Accra High Court on Tuesday, October 22, 2025, where she was charged with five counts, including willfully causing financial loss to the state, stealing, money laundering, and using public office for profit.
Prosecutors told the court that Oware-Mensah’s actions contributed significantly to the loss of public funds meant for the payment of legitimate National Service personnel.
Her bail comes amid a widening probe into the National Service “ghost names” scandal, which has rocked the institution in recent months.
Investigations initially uncovered that while over 180,000 names appeared on the payroll, only about 98,000 were verified as genuine.
The remaining were alleged to be fictitious service personnel created to siphon money from the state coffers.
The scandal, which first broke in late 2024, has triggered multiple investigations by the Auditor-General, the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), and the Attorney-General’s Department, following mounting public outrage over systemic corruption within the NSA.
Early reports pegged the loss at GH¢548 million, later revised to GH¢653 million.
However, a recent forensic audit by the Auditor-General has revealed a staggering GH¢2.2 billion loss to the state—making it one of the largest payroll-related corruption cases in Ghana’s public sector history.
Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Dr Dominic Ayine, confirmed the revised figure during a briefing at the Government Accountability Series on Wednesday, stating that the new findings resulted from an exhaustive forensic review of payroll data and financial disbursements within the scheme.
“The Auditor-General’s forensic audit has now established that the actual amount involved in the ghost names scandal at the National Service Secretariat is GH¢2.2 billion, not the GH¢548 million that was previously reported,” Dr Ayine disclosed.
He noted that the inflated wage bill was primarily driven by the inclusion of non-existent service personnel, which allowed fraudulent withdrawals to be made for months without detection.
Dr Ayine assured that the Attorney-General’s Office will amend the existing charge sheets to reflect the new findings and pledged that those found culpable will face full prosecution.
The National Service Authority, mandated to deploy Ghanaian graduates for a one-year national service program, has for years battled allegations of payroll fraud and weak internal controls.
Previous administrations had promised digital reforms and biometric verification to sanitize the system, but the latest revelations suggest the problem may have been more entrenched than earlier believed.
Meanwhile, sources close to the investigation say other former officials, including top NSA administrators, may soon be invited or charged as part of the ongoing inquiry.
