The National Service Authority (NSA) has uncovered systemic irregularities through internal investigations, resulting in the identification of 8,105 personnel on the national service payroll as ineligible.
According to the Director-General, Ruth Dela Seddoh, speaking at a press briefing on December 15, 1,840 of these individuals have been temporarily suspended pending investigations by relevant bodies.
Further analysis revealed that the irregularities were concentrated in three tertiary institutions: the University of Development Studies (UDS), Ghana Communication Technology University, and Akenten Appiah-Menka University of Skills Training and Entrepreneurial Development.
“The number of students who have officially graduated from the schools, and we compare that with the number of students that they have submitted to us. And so when you do that, you realise that some schools are complicit in this whole thing, and I must emphasise that it is a whole huge cartel.
“Due to the outcome of a very detailed, thorough and comprehensive investigation, we made shocking discoveries that resulted in the flagging of 8,105 individuals in the system. Let me repeat, we made a shocking discovery that resulted in us flagging 8,105 individuals in the system, and 1,840 individuals have been completely suspended pending conclusion of further investigations by the security agencies.
“The investigations uncovered a number of serious irregularities being perpetuated in three tertiary institutions. University of Development Studies (UDS), Ghana Communications Technology University, Akenten Appiah Minka University of Skills Training and Entrepreneurial Development. The outcome of the investigation is that 10 members of staff from the various institutions have been arrested and are under investigation with the security agencies.”
Providing an explanation on why the portal was recently shut down, she indicated that the Authority took the decision to allow for reposting, proper validation, and the verification of the physical presence of personnel at their assigned institutions, among other reasons.
“This timeline was not arbitrary. So, for the many people who think that it was just arbitrary on our part to shut the portal, that was not the intention.
“It is because there were so many other things that we have to do subsequent to this phase. It was a carefully structured process, and enforcing the deadline was also critical to ensure accurate deployment records, confirm the physical presence of personnel at their stations, and eliminate ghost or fraudulent registration. Because after this validation, we were to subject them again to a re-validation and facilitate the timely payment of allowances to verified personnel,” she added.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
