The Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Dominic Akuritinga Ayine, has provided details of monies “stolen” every year regarding the National Service Authority’s ghost names scandal.

According to him, from the 2018/2019 service year to the 2023/2024 service year, a total of GH¢548,333,482.65 was lost to the scandal.

Addressing the media on June 13, 2025, the AG said the “criminal scheme” was orchestrated by the directors and staff of the National Service Authority.

He noted that they were responsible for adding the names of people who were not NSS personnel to receive allowances on their behalf.

“Once deployed, the directors would then request that both ghost names and genuine names be transmitted by the Head of Accounts to the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GHIPSS) for payment,” he said.

According to him, a total of five hundred and eighty-seven thousand, five hundred and forty-three (587,543) personnel were to be submitted to GHIPSS for payment of allowances.

“Meanwhile, data from GHIPSS showed that a total of six hundred and fifty thousand, one hundred and sixty-five (650,165) personnel were paid, indicating that sixty-three thousand, six hundred and seventy-two (63,672) constituted ghost names.

“Our investigations compared monthly data of verified national service personnel generated from the central management system and submitted to the NSA accounts office and the data of NSA personnel who were actually paid through the GHIPSS system for a period of six years (2018-2024),” he noted.

The AG however noted that his outfit will ensure that persons involved in the scandal are prosecuted and the funds recovered.

This is the breakdown of the monies stolen each year

Service Year Amount Lost to NSP Ghost Names

2018/2019 – GH¢25,857,836.16

2019/2020 – GH¢21,613,962.24

2020/2021 – GH¢55,670,584.32

2021/2022 – GH¢61,383,025.74

2022/2023 – GH¢350,926,977.12

2023/2024 – GH¢32,881,157.07

6 Service Years – GH¢548,333,542.65

SSD/AME