Auditor-General’s probe exposes GH¢8.26m irregular payments to former NSS boss

A forensic audit by the Auditor-General has uncovered what it describes as highly irregular payments amounting to over GH¢8.26 million made to the former Executive Director of the National Service Authority (NSA), Osei Assibey Antwi, between 2023 and 2024.

The audit, which examined the operations of the Centralised Payment Management System and the Metric App, revealed that Mr Assibey was listed as a volunteer under the name NVPKUMAWUFARMS and deployed to Kumawu Farms even though he officially worked at the National Service headquarters in Accra.

According to the report, he was issued an EZWICH card linked to that volunteer account and received monthly payments of GH¢516,000 over a 16-month period. In total, the disbursements amounted to GH¢8,256,000.

Investigators said there was no documentation or proof of work done at Kumawu Farms to justify the payments. “There is no evidence of activity logs, attendance sheets or fund disbursements showing that Mr Assibey undertook any voluntary service or managed funds on behalf of others,” the audit stated.

Auditors calculated that the sum he received was roughly equivalent to the allowances of about 721 national service personnel, each of whom typically earns GH¢715.57 per month. They described the findings as a clear violation of public financial management and accountability procedures under the Public Services Commission Guidelines and the Audit Service Regulations (C.I. 70).

The Auditor-General has recommended that the GH¢8.26 million be recovered in full and that further investigations be conducted to determine whether the transactions were authorised or linked to broader payroll manipulation.

Beyond Mr Assibey’s case, the forensic review of the National Service Authority revealed wider systemic irregularities, including ghost names, duplicate EZWICH registrations, and the unauthorised enrolment of more than 4,500 individuals, which cost the state nearly GH¢900,000.

The findings add to a growing list of audit concerns about public payroll management and underscore calls for tighter oversight in government payment systems.