The Director-General of the National Service Authority (NSA), Felix Gyamfi, has announced that prospective graduates without a valid Ghana Card will not be eligible to register for national service.
According to him, this measure is aimed at eliminating ghost names from the Authority’s payroll and ensuring a more transparent system.
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, February 13, 2025, Mr. Gyamfi emphasized the importance of the new requirement.
“If you do not have a valid Ghana Card ID, you will not be allowed into our system. Any prospective graduate without a valid Ghana Card will not be permitted to register for national service. This is one of the measures we are implementing to remove ghost names,” he stated.
He criticized the previous administration for failing to enforce proper checks and policies to prevent ghost names from inflating the NSA payroll.
“This was a leadership failure. The necessary safeguards to protect taxpayers’ money were in place but were not effectively implemented,” he remarked.
A recent audit of active National Service personnel, ordered by the Minister of Finance as a prerequisite for clearing outstanding allowance arrears from August 2024, uncovered 81,885 suspected ghost names on the NSA payroll.