Member of Parliament for Yagaba Kubori and former Director of the National Service Authority, Mustapha Ussif, has refuted the accusations made against him by the Attorney General regarding the ghost names scandal at the Authority.
He stated that he is prepared to justify his tenure at the Authority from 2017 to 2021, including the opportunity to present his case in court.
Ussif took this chance to urge for calm, emphasizing that he performed his duties with dedication.
Attorney General Dr. Dominic Ayine has revealed what he calls a “nationwide criminal enterprise” within Ghana’s National Service Scheme (NSS), implicating high-ranking officials in a long-standing payroll fraud operation.
During a media briefing on Friday regarding the progress made by the ORAL team, Ayine disclosed that investigations have uncovered an astonishing 81,885 ghost names on the NSS payroll—fraudulent identities used to siphon public funds intended for service personnel into the hands of administrators and their associates.
“This wasn’t a one-off. It was institutionalised fraud,” Dr. Ayine remarked, indicating that the scheme may have drained over GH¢50 million monthly from state resources at its peak.
Senior district directors, payroll officers, and even the NSS CEO are accused of fabricating fake index numbers and ID cards to validate the scam.
Funds were reportedly redirected, with some even allegedly used to bribe a Member of Parliament in 2024 to suppress media scrutiny of the scandal.
The Attorney General further noted that prior to each service year, NSS directors would submit bulk ghost entries, keeping the fraudulent operation thriving.
Source: HotFmOnline.com
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