Acting Director General of the National Service Authority (NSA), Felix Gyamfi, has announced a firm crackdown on payroll fraud, declaring that no Ghanaian graduate will be allowed to undertake national service without a Ghana Card or accreditation from GTEC.
Speaking in an exclusive interview on Joy FM’s GhanaConnect, Mr Gyamfi said the new policies are aimed at eliminating ghost names from the NSA’s payroll — a systemic issue that has plagued the scheme for years.
“If you don’t have a Ghana Card, you are not allowed to do national service,” he asserted. “The Ghana Card is a high-level form of identification that bars those with questionable identity from entering the system.”
His comments follow President John Mahama’s February 2025 directive to the National Investigations Bureau (NIB) to probe the NSA after 81,885 suspected ghost names were discovered on its payroll. The Finance Ministry uncovered the irregularities during a headcount exercise, which was meant to clear arrears owed to service personnel since August 2024.
Mr. Gyamfi emphasised that only graduates from properly accredited institutions, as recognised by the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), would be eligible for national service.
“If you are from a school that is not properly accredited by GTEC, you should not be doing national service. These are institutions of questionable character,” he warned.
He revealed that while some of these rules already existed, weak leadership and poor enforcement had allowed widespread abuse of the system.
Additional reforms include:
- Mandatory biometric validation: All personnel must present themselves physically at NSA offices every month for biometric checks before receiving their allowances.
- Strict age and registration compliance: Anyone above the service age limit or who bypasses the formal registration process will be disqualified.
- Live verification protocols: Personnel will not be paid unless they are physically verified and validated by NSA officials.
The new measures mark a decisive shift in how the NSA operates, with Gyamfi promising to restore credibility to the national service system and ensure genuine graduates benefit from the programme.
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