It reads like a crime thriller, but it’s real, and it’s unraveling right at the heart of Ghana’s public sector. Gifty Oware-Mensah, once a high-ranking official at the National Service Scheme (NSS), is now at the center of a jaw-dropping GH₵548 million fraud case. Alongside 11 other accused individuals, she’s set to stand trial for allegedly orchestrating one of the most elaborate financial scams Ghana has seen in recent years.
At the core of the scandal? Ghost names. Thousands of them. Fake identities were quietly slipped into NSS payrolls, names that didn’t belong to real people, but still collected real money. These phantom recruits were part of a wider scheme that saw vendors and bank partners unknowingly (or knowingly, as investigators suggest) push payments through a web of shady channels.
Gifty Oware-Mensah: The Alleged Mastermind Behind a GH₵30 Million ADB Loan Fraud
According to findings from the Attorney General’s Department, this wasn’t a case of sloppy accounting; it was a carefully plotted fraud operation. The payroll figures were bloated with nonexistent service personnel. Vendors submitted inflated numbers, and, on paper, it all looked normal. But behind the scenes, the extra cash was being funneled into the pockets of a well-coordinated group of insiders.
Gifty Oware-Mensah, who once held the powerful role of Deputy Executive Director at NSS, is alleged to have played a central role.
How the National Service Scheme Was Exploited
Perhaps the most striking piece of the puzzle involves a GH₵30 million loan from the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB). Authorities say Oware-Mensah used stolen personal data to register a fake company called Blocks of Life Consult, on paper, a vendor supplying home appliances to NSS personnel. In reality, the company never existed in any official NSS vendor registry.
With the help of a middleman, Akwasi Ofori Mintah, and her husband, Peter Mensah (who acted as the company’s legal rep), she allegedly secured the loan. The pitch was simple: the loan would be paid back through deductions from the salaries of service personnel. But here’s the kicker—many of those personnel didn’t even exist.
The money was then channeled through multiple accounts in what investigators believe was an effort to cover their tracks. Think of it like laundering, but with public funds.
How Deep Did It Go?
The numbers are staggering. In just two service years, nearly 10,000 ghost names were used to misappropriate funds. The fake company got paid. The money moved around. And real National Service members, fresh graduates hoping to get a head start in life, ended up as pawns in a much bigger game.
The funds, which should have gone to support young Ghanaians entering the workforce, were instead tied to a complex fraud scheme that exploited weak systems and almost nonexistent oversight.
A Political and Legal Earthquake
This case has quickly become a test for Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL), the government’s bold anti-corruption initiative aimed at cleaning up public institutions and recovering stolen money. Attorney General Dr. Dominic Akuritinga Ayine made it clear: this is a line in the sand.
President Akufo-Addo has reportedly ordered the freezing of all assets connected to the suspects, and more individuals are being investigated for helping move the money around, some through quiet cash deals, others through suspicious bank transfers.
Oware-Mensah was picked up in March 2025 by the National Investigation Bureau (NIB) and remains in custody, although her legal team is in talks to negotiate the terms of her release.
What It Means for Ghana
This isn’t just a political mess, it’s a wake-up call. The scandal has exposed massive vulnerabilities in how government payrolls are managed and how vendors are vetted. It’s also put a spotlight on banks like ADB, raising tough questions about their due diligence practices.
The idea that NSS allowances, meant to support young graduates, were used as collateral for fake loans is enough to make anyone’s blood boil.
Where Do We Go from Here?
As the legal process begins to unfold, there’s growing pressure for structural reforms. Experts are calling for real-time payroll verification, better auditing tools, and a complete overhaul of the NSS vendor system. ORAL is expected to dig deeper into other state institutions, and depending on how this trial goes, we could see more prosecutions in the months ahead.
For now, all eyes are on the court. If found guilty, Gifty Oware-Mensah and her co-accused could face stiff penalties, jail time, frozen assets, and a lifetime ban from public service.
But beyond the courtroom drama, this case has stirred a much deeper question: how many more ghost names are still hiding in Ghana’s system?
