Former Directors-General of the National Service Authority (NSA), Osei Assibey Antwi and Mustapha Ussif, have vehemently denied allegations made by the Fourth Estate in a recent report, calling it misleading and selectively presented.
The publication accused the former NSA officials of irregularities in the enrolment, verification, and payment processes within the Authority.
In a press release on Tuesday, February 18, the former officers described the report as “laden with a misapprehension of the enrolment, verification, and payment processes of the National Service Authority, as well as selective omission of information, calculated to achieve contrived conclusions of imputing wrongdoing to former officers.”
The report highlighted alleged discrepancies between the figures submitted to Parliament for budgetary purposes and those made available to the public.
Assibey and Ussif clarified that the Fourth Estate had relied solely on figures from the general posting done in September, omitting two cohorts of nursing trainees and one cohort of teacher trainees.
They explained that the NSA, in collaboration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council and the Teachers Council, conducts additional enrolment cycles for nurses and teachers, which account for the alleged discrepancies.
In response to claims of “ghost” employees padding the NSA payroll due to mismatches between budgeted personnel and verified postings, the former officers firmly rejected the allegations, stating that only personnel who pass strict verification processes are paid through the GhiPPS System, a Bank of Ghana subsidiary.
Regarding accusations of overaged individuals, foreign photos, and incorrect IDs within the NSA system, the former officials acknowledged initial data errors but stressed these are rectified during regional verification. Any personnel with inconsistencies are either banned or placed under pending verification to prevent them from being added to the payroll.
They expressed surprise that the Fourth Estate had relied on entry data without verifying the actual number of personnel paid annually through GhiPPS, accusing the publication of sensationalizing the issue rather than reporting facts.
The former NSA Directors called on journalists to practice due diligence in their reporting to avoid spreading misinformation that harms individuals without basis.
They also welcomed former President Mahama’s directive for an investigation, expressing confidence that a thorough probe would expose inaccuracies in the allegations and affirm the integrity of their administration.
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