Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama has ordered an investigation into the operations of the National Service Authority after the discovery of over 81,000 suspected ghost names on its payroll. The issue came to light during a headcount aimed at clearing arrears in allowance payments for graduates enrolled in the country’s mandatory one-year service program.
A statement from the presidency confirmed that the finance ministry had allocated 226 million Ghana cedis ($14.6 million) to pay just over 98,000 legitimate recipients, raising concerns about how much money may have been previously lost to fraudulent payments.
Since returning to office in January, Mahama has pledged to fight corruption, which remains a deep-rooted issue in Ghana’s public sector. His government is determined to clean up irregularities and restore financial discipline, particularly as the country recovers from one of its worst economic crises in decades.
In a separate development, Ghana’s anti-corruption agency, the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), has declared former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta a “wanted fugitive.” He is under investigation for his alleged role in five financial transactions suspected of corruption and misconduct. Ofori-Atta has yet to respond to the allegations.
