By Prince Ahenkorah
The National Service Authority (NSA), has revealed that it has successfully blocked an estimated GH₵900 million in annual financial leakages by eliminating ghost names from its payroll, marking a major breakthrough in efforts to improve accountability within the public sector.
According to the Authority, the intervention has led to a dramatic reduction in its yearly payroll expenditure, which previously hovered between GH₵1.5 billion and GH₵1.6 billion but has now dropped to approximately GH₵700 million.
Deputy Director General in charge of Operations, Lieutenant Colonel Moses Dok Nach Kpeungu, disclosed the figures during an interview on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show.
He described the sharp decline in payroll costs as clear evidence that recent reforms within the Authority are yielding tangible results.
“Previously, the payroll of the government was about 1.5 to 1.6 billion every year. As of last year, we paid barely about 700 million Ghanaian cedis,” he stated.
He emphasized that the significant savings were not achieved through a reduction in the number of national service personnel deployed across the country.
Instead, the gains stem from a rigorous overhaul of the verification and payment systems to ensure that only legitimate service personnel receive allowances.
Lt. Col. Kpeungu explained that under the enhanced system, the processing of monthly allowances now follows a strict, multi-layered verification procedure.
Each service person must first be assessed and validated by a supervisor at their place of posting. The documentation is then forwarded to the district office for further checks, before undergoing internal audit scrutiny.
From there, it is escalated to the regional level for approval by the regional director, after which it is reconciled by accountants at the NSA headquarters. Final payment authorization is subsequently issued through the Controller and Accountant General’s Department.
He acknowledged that the process is extensive and involves several checkpoints, but stressed that it has been fully digitized to improve efficiency and transparency.
“Though the system is thorough, it is largely digital, and we have not experienced any major delays in payments as a result of these controls,” he added.
Providing an update on outstanding payments, the Deputy Director General noted that the Authority currently owes service personnel only one month’s allowance, March, which he described as manageable given the scale of operations.
With approximately 99,500 service personnel currently deployed nationwide, the NSA disburses about GH₵50 million in allowances each month. This brings the Authority’s annual expenditure on allowances to an estimated GH₵600 million under the new system.
The reforms, he said, are part of a broader effort to restore credibility, eliminate fraud, and ensure value for money in the administration of the national service scheme.