Assibey Antwi, Mustapha Ussif deny Fourth Estate’s allegations in NSA scandal

Two former senior officers of the National Service Authority (NSA) have denied any wrongdoing after a publication by the Fourth Estate alleged that the officers were responsible for “ghost” names and other financial malfeasances at the NSA during their tenure.

The publication accused the former NSA officers of various irregularities related to enrolment, verification, and payment processes within the Authority.

Former Director-General, Osei Assibey Antwi and former Executive Director, Mustapha Ussif have described the publication by Fourth Estate as “laden with a misapprehension of the enrolment, verification and payment processes of the National Service Authority.”

They said the publication is a “selective omission of information, calculated to achieve contrived conclusions of imputing wrong doing to former officers.”

The publication claimed a significant discrepancy between the figures submitted to Parliament for budgetary purposes and those available to the public. The former officers clarified that the Fourth Estate relied solely on figures from the general posting done in September, omitting two cohorts of nursing trainees and one cohort of teacher trainees.

The NSA, in partnership with the Nursing and Midwifery Council and the Teachers Council, runs additional enrolment cycles for nurses and teachers, respectively. The former DGs argued that the shortfalls in figures were accounted for by these additional cycles.

The Fourth Estate also alleged that the NSA payroll was padded with “ghosts” due to discrepancies between the budgeted personnel and verified postings.

The former officers explained that the payroll is only activated after stringent verification processes, and only personnel who pass verification are paid through the GhiPPS System, a Bank of Ghana subsidiary.

The publication also claimed the NSA system was full of overaged individuals, foreign pictures, and wrong IDs. The former DGs in their statement countered this by explaining that initial data often contains errors, which are addressed during regional verification processes. Personnel with inconsistent information are categorized as banned or pending verification and do not draw from the payroll.

The former officers expressed shock that the Fourth Estate relied on entry data without verifying the actual number of personnel paid per year through GhiPPS. They argued that this reliance betrayed a malicious intent to publish a sensational story rather than diligently establish facts.

Throughout their tenure, Assibey and Ussif stated that they were committed to implementing robust enrolment and verification mechanisms to reduce fraudulent attempts. They urged journalists to be thorough in their work to avoid publishing misleading stories that malign individuals without basis.

The former officers welcomed President Mahama’s directive for an investigation, expressing confidence that the investigation would reveal the true state of affairs and counter the allegations made by the Fourth Estate.

The post Assibey Antwi, Mustapha Ussif deny Fourth Estate’s allegations in NSA scandal first appeared on 3News.

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