Gifty Oware-Mensah, Former NSA Boss to Refund GH¢2.4 Billion After Auditor-General Surcharge
- Former National Service Authority officials have been charged GH¢2.4 billion for unlawful payments revealed in a forensic audit
- Former appointees Osei Assibey Antwi and Gifty Oware-Mensah were surcharged for involvement in fraudulent schemes
- The audit also revealed payments to ineligible personnel as the authority enrolled and paid allowances totalling GH¢1.97 million
The Office of the Auditor-General surcharged former top officials of the National Service Authority GH¢ 2.4 billion.
Graphic Online reported that this was money unlawfully paid to them from state coffers.
Source: Facebook
This was coming after a Technical and Forensic Audit of the National Service Authority systems.
According to the Auditor-General, Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu, the office wrote to the officers involved to pay the amounts.
The audit report covered January 2018 to December 2024, and was submitted to Parliament on October 1.
The investigation implicated the authority’s former Director-General, Osei Assibey Antwi, and his deputy, Gifty Oware-Mensah, as being at the heart of a network of fraudulent schemes.
Among the schemes, there was a virtual marketplace created to allow service persons on credit with deductions from their allowances.
But the forensic audit found that the platform was nothing but a sophisticated engine for generating ghost payments.
Operating through the Ezwich and Ghanapay platforms, the scheme funnelled GH¢301.6 million to 32 vendor accounts.
The audit also revealed payments to ineligible personnel as the authority enrolled and paid allowances totalling GH¢1.97 million to persons either below the eligible age of 18 or above 60.
Source: Facebook
11 accused persons in NSS scandal
Eleven persons are facing charges in connection with the National Service Scheme scandal, which led to losses of GH¢548 million.
A headcount of National Service Scheme beneficiaries showed 81,885 ghost names on the payroll.
A Fourth Estate investigation also noted thousands of ghost names under the scheme.
This prompted President John Mahama to order the National Investigations Bureau to probe the National Service Authority.
The 11 accused persons fingered in the GH¢548 million NSS payroll fraud cases, as disclosed by the Attorney General, are:
- Gifty Oware-Mensah, former Deputy Executive Director
- Mustapha Ussif, former Executive Director
- Osei Assibey Antwi, former Director General
- Kwaku Ohene Gyan, former Deputy Executive Director for Operations
- Abraham Bismarck Gaise, former Internal Auditor
- Kwaku Adjei, Account Officer
- Iddrisu Abubakar, former Head of Accounts
- Stephen Kwabena Gyamfi, former Regional Director for Koforidua
- Prince Awuku, District Director
- Jacob Yawson, Management Information Systems Administrator in the Northern Region
- Two additional unnamed suspects (to be added once formally identified)
For example, 3News reported that Oware-Mensah allegedly misappropriated GH¢38,458,248.87 between February 2022 and March 2024 while overseeing finance, audit, and procurement at the National Service Authority.
Assibey Antwi posted as NSS volunteer
YEN.com.gh also previously reported that Antwi was implicated in alleged payroll fraud in 2022/2023.
According to The Fourth State, he was assigned an EZWICH card and posted to the Greater Accra region after his registration, and was paid GH¢516,000 every month for 16 months.
Source: YEN.com.gh
