A shocking investigation by The Fourth Estate has uncovered a massive scandal in Ghana’s National Service Scheme (NSS). It appears that several individuals, some over 90 years old, have been listed as national service personnel, with some even being deployed to schools.
One example is a 93-year-old named Nimatus, who was supposedly a graduate of the University for Development Studies (UDS) and was assigned to a primary school in the Upper West Region. Another example is a 91-year-old named Ruth Abdullah, who was assigned to another district.
The investigation, which was led by Sulemana Braimah, Executive Director of The Fourth Estate, found that these anomalies were detected in the 2022/2023 and 2023/2024 service years, and suggest a deliberate effort to insert fictitious names into the system to siphon off funds meant for genuine service personnel.
Some universities, including UDS and the University of Education, Winneba (UEW), were used extensively with thousands of fake index numbers linked to these institutions.
Officials from the affected universities have denied knowledge of these fraudulent entries, stating that the index numbers and student details do not match their records.
The revelations have sparked outrage, with civil society organizations calling for immediate action against those responsible for the fraudulent scheme.
However, the Executive Director of the National Service Authority (NSA), Mr Felix Gyamfi, has disputed the findings, describing them as “not wholly accurate” and stating that an investigation is ongoing to establish culpability.
