75,000 ghost names removed from NSS payroll; saving GH¢26.5m

Source: Daily Graphic Online  -  Control measures activated by the new management of the National Service Scheme (NSS) Secretariat have prevented about 75,000 ghost names from entering the service payroll in the 2014/2015 service year.

That internal mechanism has saved the nation GHc26.5 million which, otherwise, would have gone into illegal pockets in the current service year.

Traditionally, names on the National Service payroll go up every year.

But, the 2013/2014 figure of 184,965 dropped to 89,612 in the current service year.

The acting Executive Director of the NSS, Dr Michael Kpessa-Whyte, told the Daily Graphic in an exclusive interview in Accra yesterday that one could deduce from the development that a lot of rot had characterised the system.

He said President Mahama had given his full backing to the process to weed out the rot at the NSS.

In line with the control measures instituted by the new management, the allowances of service personnel can be processed only on the completion of a monthly reporting form that must be duly signed by the service person and his or her superior officer.

The reporting form was introduced to eliminate the phenomenon of ghost names in the scheme.

The scheme has also brought on board a chief internal auditor and a chief accountant on secondment to strengthen the accounting and auditing process.

Having observed that the current mode of payment of cash allowances to service personnel by NSS district directors created avenues for unscrupulous persons to indulge in financial malpractice, the scheme managers decided to effect the payment of monthly allowances through the e-zwich.

"This new shift will return the regional and district offices to their original roles as centres that facilitate the integration and evaluation of the NSS," the acting Executive Director said.

Management has further put in place a new posting schedule to ensure timeliness from enlistment to deployment.

Dr Kpessa Whyte stated that in the past, prospective personnel were given two-weeks to move to their new stations, but this time round the system had been scheduled to spread over three months.

This is to relieve the personnel and their parents of anxiety and give the former enough time to prepare for their new stations.

A massive financial scandal that hit the NSS last year led to the arrest of the then Executive Director, Alhaji Alhassan Mohammed Imoro, and a host of other officers.

The Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) uncovered the deals.

Alhaji Imoro was interdicted and has been charged before court.

A Presidential Staffer, Dr Kpessa-Whyte, was reassigned to temporarily head the NSS in October 2014 .