How NSS Payroll Fraud Was Plotted & Executed

The Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa and the manager of The Fourth Estate, an investigative journalism outfit under the Foundation, Sulemana Braimah, has explained how the ghost names fraud was operationalised at the National Service Authority.

Appearing on TV3 over the weekend, he outlined how the list of personnel astronomically ballooned against the official numbers.

The investigation covered the entire period of the previous administration, specifically 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024.

He explained that the National Service Secretariat every year puts out the total number of persons who are eligible for National Service that year.

The number is on the basis of how many students are graduating from the eligible tertiary institutions in the country who will be enrolled for National Service.

“So, every year, they put out the announcement. So, if you look at that year, the very first year of President Akufo-Addo, the 2017-2018 National Service Year, they announced that 91,871 students or graduates are eligible for National Service. In the end, 88,939 took up the National Service,” Mr. Braimah said.

The difference is less than 2,000 which he explained, could be attributed to people graduating but not enrolling to do their national service that year.

“And that is what is supposed to be. But the following year, 2018-2019, they said 85,708 people are graduating and are eligible for National Service. But see what happened. 135,603 were those who were claimed to have done the service, so a difference of 49,895.

So, the ghost names started from the second year, 2018-2019. Yes, yes. And these are not our figures. In fact, these are figures presented to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Education last year. So, it’s not our figures. The Parliamentary Select Committee had this information. Yes, they got this,” he said.

His surprise was that, though the numbers per year had an increment pattern, “I wonder why nobody at that committee asked them that, ah, but how can we have in just one year this difference in terms of the numbers?”

He further stated that in 2019-2020, the Authority said 77,962 people were eligible, but by the end, they told Parliament that 114,000 did the service, an addition of 36,000.

According to Sulemana Braimah, in 2020-2021, the National Service Authority themselves announced to the public that it was 86,078 but ended up at 125,000, adding 38,972 more personnel to do the service.

“From where? We don’t know. 2021-2022 they said 81,000 and 81. Then they deployed 110,000  a difference of 29,000. Then the worst started happening.

“2022-2023 they themselves said 115,240 people were eligible. But see, they say 179,309. So a difference of 64,000. More than half of the number that they themselves announced.

“Then in 2023-2024 they said 122,000. Then they deployed 182,142 a difference of 59,000. And then the very recent one, the handing over notes that they gave, claiming that the total number of people, you know, they have is 180, but in actual sense, it’s just 98,000 people. And we have a difference of 81,000.

“So, the question I ask is, but why would the parliamentary committee, for example, look at just one year, 81,000 people eligible for national service? And in the following year, you have 115,000. How did we get those numbers? Then 115, 122, 122, 180. How many new schools were built and how many graduates were coming out, you know, each year?” he wondered.

COST

Beyond the numbers, Mr. Braimah explained that the investigation looked at the number of ghost names in terms of the money being wrongly paid as NSS allowances over the years.

He explained that they multiplied the monthly allowance per personnel by 12 months and multiplied that by the number of personnel added every year.

He said that for the 2022-2023 NSS year, GH¢429 million was lost by the state to ghosts on the NSS database. In 2023-2024, the amount was GH¢513 million and in 2024-2025, GH¢234 million would have been lost if all allowances were paid. It has been reported that the payment was in arrears for the months of October, November, December, and January.

“So, if allowances were being paid on a regular basis, so November, they would have been paid October, November, December, and January. They would have been paid. And this is how much would have gone to ghosts: GH¢234.2 million.”

Asked how the alleged illegality was created, Mr. Braimah indicated that the potential annual financial loss to the state, putting the figures together is GH¢2.2 billion.

Meanwhile, President John Mahama has ordered an investigation into the alleged illegality.

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