NSS Scandal Exposé: 72-year-old Kenyan with fake name shockingly found on database

In a shocking turn of events from the National Service Scheme (NSS) scandal exposé, The Fourth Estate has revealed that a 72-year-old Kenyan man was enrolled on the payroll.

The investigation revealed that the man was registered without an identification card but under a fake name, Kwame Donkor.

The investigative piece stated:

Kwame Donkor, 72, was registered without any ID card. In place of an ID card, a photo was used. When The Fourth Estate ran a reverse image search, it was revealed that the photo belonged to a certain Emmanuel Mutio, a Human Resources Manager at a private IT company in Kenya.

In other shocking revelations, The Fourth Estate further disclosed the inclusion of personnel above 80 years of age in the NSS database.

Among the most bizarre discoveries was the inclusion of individuals well past retirement age in the NSS database. Ninety-three-year-old Nimatu Salifu was listed as a UDS graduate, deployed to Kpiyagi D/A Primary School in the Upper West Region in the 2022/2023 service year.

These details emerge after President John Dramani Mahama directed the National Investigations Bureau (NIB) to launch an immediate investigation into a scandal at the National Service Authority (NSA).

A statement signed by the President’s Spokesperson, Minister of Government Communications Felix Kwakye Ofosu, and dated Wednesday, 12 February, stated that the directive followed the discovery of over 81,885 suspected ghost names on the NSA payroll after a mandatory headcount of active national service personnel.

Background

In December 2024, investigative media outlet The Fourth Estate planned to publish an exposé on alleged corrupt activities within the National Service Scheme (NSS). The publication was scheduled for 2 December, just five days before the 2024 general election. However, the NSA obtained a 10-day injunction, halting the release less than 12 hours before its scheduled publication. Subsequently, the injunction was dismissed on 19 December.

Leaked documents later suggested that the scandal involved thousands of ghost names on the NSS payroll, leading to estimated annual losses of billions of cedis.

In response, the NSA, in a statement dated 16 December, denied any payroll fraud, describing the allegations as a threat to its ongoing transformation efforts aimed at eliminating such malpractices. The Authority also expressed its willingness to investigate the claims.

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