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A new investigation by The Fourth Estate has uncovered a major loophole in Ghana’s National Service Scheme (NSS) registration process, revealing that tens of thousands of ghost names were fraudulently added to the payroll—despite the integration of the Ghana Card, which was expected to eliminate such irregularities.
In the lead-up to the 2024 elections, Ghana’s former Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, championed the Ghana Card as a critical tool in eradicating ghost names from government payrolls, including the NSS.
However, the latest findings suggest that the system was manipulated to accommodate fraudulent registrations.
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According to The Fourth Estate, the alleged fraud exploited a loophole that allowed “private candidates”—graduates who missed their service in previous years—to register late. This process was manipulated by inserting fake identities and assigning them to various institutions to collect allowances.
“The system was supposed to prevent this kind of fraud, but those behind the scheme found a way around it,” said Sulemana Braimah, Executive Director of The Fourth Estate, on The KeyPoints program on February 15.
Documents obtained by the investigative team reveal that multiple ghost names were linked to the same fake student IDs and Ghana Card numbers.
“Dr. Bawumia said the Ghana Card could identify ghost names from any digitalised system. However, the fraud was well-calculated, and we even found instances where the same name appeared over 200 times,” Braimah disclosed.
The revelations have reignited concerns about the effectiveness of Ghana’s digital identity system in preventing payroll fraud, particularly in government institutions. Critics argue that while digitalisation remains a powerful tool for accountability, it is not immune to manipulation if proper oversight mechanisms are not in place.
Meanwhile, the Executive Director of the National Service Authority (NSA), Mr. Felix Gyamfi, has dismissed the claims, suggesting that the findings are not entirely accurate.
“What Sulemana is showing is not factual; there is an ongoing investigation to establish culpability, but it is not done yet,” Mr. Gyamfi told 3News in a phone discussion.
With the issue now under the spotlight, the government faces mounting pressure to address loopholes in the NSS registration system and ensure that the Ghana Card truly delivers on its promise of payroll integrity.
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