The Finance Ministry led by Dr Cassiel Ato Forson has uncovered more than 80,000 ghost while clearing arrears at the National Service Authority (NSA).

This was reported by the presidency in a statement dated February 12, 2025, signed by Felix Kwakye Ofosu, Spokesperson to the President.

According to the statement, President John Dramani Mahama had ordered the National Investigations Bureau (NIB) to conduct immediate investigations into the operations of the NSA under the previous government of Nana Akufo-Addo “following the discovery of up to 81,885 suspected ghost names on the payroll of the authority”.

“The ghost names were detected following a head count of active National Service personnel at the behest of the Minister for Finance as a prerequisite for the clearance of allowance arrears dating back to August 2024,” the statement explained.

“The Ministry of Finance has upon the completion of the head count, released an amount of GHS226,019,224 covering allowance payment arrears for 98,145 actual National Service Personnel,” the statement said.

“This figure is 81,885 less than the 180,030 names presented by the previous management of the authority for allowance payment in 2024.”

“President Mahama has also tasked the new management of the authority to carry out urgent reforms with the view to establishing adequate controls to prevent a recurrence of the phenomenon of ghost names,” the statement concluded.