President of the Republic of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama has instructed the National Investigations Bureau (NIB) to conduct an immediate investigations into the National Service Authority’s operations, following a discovery of 81,885 suspected ghost names on its payroll under the previous administration.
According to a statement signed by the Spokesperson to the President on Wednesday, February 12, 2025, the Finance Minister ordered a headcount of active National Service personnel, as part of a requirement for the clearance dating back to August 2024.
“The ghost names were detected following a head count of active National Service personnel at the behest of the Minister of Finance as a prerequisite for the clearance of allowance arrears dating back to August 2024,” he stated.
This directive follows as the headcount revealed that only 98,145 National Service personnel were eligible to receive allowances, which is much fewer than the 180,030 names which were previously submitted by the former management of the Authority.
Consequently, the Ministry of Finance released GHS 226,019,224 to cover the allowance payment arrears for the verified personnel.
The statement further stated that the President has instructed the new management of the National Service Authority to implement new reforms to ensure that systems are better controlled to prevent the re-emergence of ghost names.
”President Mahama has also tasked the new management of the Authority to carry out urgent reforms with the view to establishing adequate controls to prevent a recurrence of the phenomenon of ghost names,” he said.
