The Acting Director General of the National Service Authority (NSA), Felix Gyamfi, has announced sweeping reforms to eliminate ghost names from the authority’s payroll.

He declared that without a Ghana Card or accreditation from the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), no graduate will be allowed to undertake national service.

Speaking in an exclusive interview on Joy FM's GhanaConnect, Mr Gyamfi said the new measures are not just policy tweaks but a firm commitment to ending the longstanding problem of payroll fraud, which has plagued the National Service Scheme for years.

“If you don’t have a Ghana Card, you are not allowed to do national service,” he stated. “Ghana Card is a high-level form of identification that bars those with questionable identity from entering the system.”

President John Mahama on February 12, 2025, directed the National Investigations Bureau (NIB) to immediately conduct an investigation into the operations of the National Service Authority (NSA) following the discovery of 81,885 suspected ghost names on its payroll.

The directive was issued after the Finance Ministry identified discrepancies after a headcount of active National Service personnel, as a prerequisite for clearing allowance arrears dating back to August 2024.

The Acting Director of the Authority said the authority is also tightening eligibility criteria to ensure that only graduates from properly accredited institutions are enlisted.

“If you are from a school that is not properly accredited by GTEC, you should not be doing national service. These are institutions of questionable character,” he emphasised.

According to him, many of these safeguards have existed in the system but were simply ignored in the past due to poor leadership and a lack of will to enforce them.

Other measures outlined include:

• Mandatory biometric validation: Service personnel must physically present themselves at NSA offices monthly to be validated using biometric systems before salaries are processed.

• Strict age and registration compliance: Anyone who exceeds the service age limit or bypasses the formal registration process will be automatically disqualified.

• Live verification protocols: Personnel will not be placed on the payroll unless they are physically verified and validated by NSA officers.