Two former Directors of the National Service Authority (NSA), Osei Assibey Antwi and Mustapha Ussif, have denied corruption allegations levelled against them by investigative outlet The Fourth Estate.
They described the claims as misleading and based on a flawed understanding of NSA’s enrolment, verification, and payment processes.
In a statement, the former NSA heads accused The Fourth Estate of engaging in selective omission of critical information to misrepresent facts and “impute wrongdoing to former officers.”
The publication alleged a significant discrepancy between the number of personnel submitted to Parliament for budgetary purposes and those publicly available.
However, the former directors countered that The Fourth Estate’s report failed to account for additional enrolment cycles for nursing and teacher trainees, which are conducted in partnership with the Nursing and Midwifery Council and the Teachers Council.
“The figures used in the report were based only on the general postings in September, completely ignoring two cohorts of nursing trainees and one cohort of teacher trainees,” they clarified.
Addressing concerns about over-aged individuals, foreign pictures, and incorrect IDs in the NSA system, Mr. Assibey and Hon. Ussif explained that such errors occur in initial data collection but are thoroughly addressed during regional verification processes.
“Personnel with inconsistent information are either banned or placed under pending verification and, as a result, do not receive payments,” they emphasized.
Furthermore, the payroll system is only activated after stringent verification, and payments are processed through GhiPPS, a Bank of Ghana subsidiary, ensuring only verified personnel receive allowances.
The former directors expressed shock that The Fourth Estate relied on raw entry data rather than actual payroll figures, which they argue suggests an intent to publish a sensationalized story rather than diligently establish facts.
They insisted that during their tenure, they were committed to strengthening enrolment and verification mechanisms to prevent fraudulent claims.
The former NSA officials welcomed President Mahama’s directive for an investigation, expressing confidence that a thorough probe would expose the inaccuracies in the allegations and reveal the true state of affairs.
“We encourage journalists to be thorough and responsible in their investigations to avoid publishing misleading reports that unfairly malign individuals,” they added.