IMANI Africa President Franklin Cudjoe has urged the Attorney General’s Office to ensure the National Service Authority scandal doesn’t become another headline that disappears without consequences, warning that Ghana’s pattern of letting corruption cases fade threatens the country’s financial integrity.
In a pointed social media statement posted Tuesday, Cudjoe emphasized that recovering stolen funds and fixing broken systems must be priorities, not afterthoughts. His warning comes as two former NSS officials face criminal charges in what prosecutors describe as one of Ghana’s most significant corruption cases in recent years.
“This must not become another headline that fades into dust,” Cudjoe wrote. “The Republic must recover what was lost and fix what failed.” It’s a sentiment that resonates with Ghanaians who’ve watched numerous corruption scandals generate outrage before quietly disappearing from public consciousness without meaningful accountability.
The Office of the Attorney General has filed criminal charges against former NSS Executive Director Osei Assibey Antwi and former Deputy Executive Director Gifty Oware-Mensah in connection with an alleged GH¢653 million corruption scandal. The accused are facing separate prosecutions at the Accra High Court for their alleged roles in elaborate financial schemes that defrauded the state through ghost service personnel and fraudulent bank loans.
Court filings indicate that Antwi faces 14 counts, including causing financial loss to the Republic, stealing, and money laundering, with the total approximate value of offences attributed to him reaching GH¢615 million. He’s accused of authorizing payments to over 60,000 fictitious service personnel, resulting in losses exceeding GH¢500 million.
Prosecutors further allege that Antwi diverted more than GH¢106 million from the NSA’s Kumawu Farm Project and transferred GH¢8.26 million into his personal e-zwich account. The brazenness of allegedly moving millions directly into a personal account speaks to either extraordinary confidence or a fundamental breakdown in oversight systems.
Oware-Mensah faces five counts, including stealing, willfully causing financial loss, using public office for profit, and money laundering. She allegedly created nearly 10,000 fake service records and used them to secure a GH¢31.5 million loan from the Agricultural Development Bank through her private company, Blocks of Life Consult. Prosecutors say she transferred over GH¢22 million to another company she co-owned, causing a total loss of GH¢38.4 million to the state.
What troubles Cudjoe isn’t just the alleged theft itself but Ghana’s historical inability to follow through. He’s calling for mandatory biometric verification for all public disbursements, public disclosure of audit reports, and bank verifications that include real-time data checks rather than relying solely on spreadsheets. These aren’t revolutionary ideas; they’re basic safeguards that should already exist.
“If Ghana fails to act, the next heist is already in motion,” Cudjoe warned. “The names will change. The numbers will grow. And the ghosts will march again, silent, digital, and deadly.”
It’s a chilling prediction grounded in pattern recognition. Ghana has seen corruption scandals before, complete with initial outrage, promises of accountability, and then… silence. Cases drag through courts for years, public attention moves elsewhere, and institutional memory fades. Meanwhile, the systems that enabled the theft remain largely unchanged.
Cudjoe’s statement that “the ghosts have learnt accounting, and the living have learnt silence” captures something essential about Ghana’s corruption challenge. It’s not just that individuals steal; it’s that the sophisticated methods they employ often outpace the systems designed to prevent or detect fraud. Ghost names on payrolls aren’t new, but their scale and the digital tools used to perpetuate them represent an evolution.
The accused are expected to appear before the High Court in Accra this week, marking the beginning of what could be a lengthy legal process. Whether this case will be different from previous high-profile corruption prosecutions remains the critical question.
For Cudjoe and many observers, the real test isn’t just whether these individuals face consequences. It’s whether Ghana uses this scandal as a catalyst for systemic reform or allows it to become another cautionary tale that changes nothing. The answer will determine whether the next generation of “ghosts” finds public finances as vulnerable as the current one allegedly did.