ACCRA, Oct 29 (The African Portal) – A forensic audit by Ghana’s Auditor-General has found that former Deputy Executive Director of the National Service Authority (NSA), Gifty Oware-Mensah, was unlawfully enrolled as a national service person while serving as a full-time salaried public officer.
The audit report said Mrs Oware-Mensah, also known as Gifty Oware-Aboagye, was manually added to the National Service Scheme’s database on March 16, 2021, based on her Master of Public Administration qualification from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).
Although she was ineligible under the scheme’s rules, she was placed on the payroll and her full allowance of GH¢6,708.48 — GH¢559.04 per month over 12 months — was deducted and paid to a vendor through the scheme’s “MarketPlace” platform for a purported credit facility.
The report said her irregular enrolment was approved by then Minister for Youth and Sports, Mustapha Ussif, on 22 April 2021, though he had no authority to approve such a posting.
Mrs Oware-Mensah was reportedly assigned to teach at Koblimahagu Sobriya Primary School in Tamale but failed to report for duty or undergo biometric validation. Despite this, she remained on the payroll.
The audit also identified her among 4,556 individuals who were improperly enrolled as national service personnel, resulting in an irregular expenditure of GH¢899,349.67. Of these, only 19 people met the basic criteria for validation and approval.
Investigators blamed the anomalies on manual overrides, weak system controls and the absence of automated checks to prevent salaried public officers from enrolling as service personnel. They also flagged misuse of the NSA’s “MarketPlace” platform, where deductions were made without evidence of goods or services delivered.
The Auditor-General’s report warned that the breaches undermined public trust and the integrity of the National Service Scheme’s deployment system. It recommended that the amounts be recovered and that Mrs Oware-Mensah and other officials, including Osei Assibey Antwi and Eric Nyarko, be surcharged with the full amount plus interest at the prevailing Bank of Ghana rate.
It further called for disciplinary action against officers who violated standard procedures and for automated safeguards to be implemented to prevent future double enrolments.
