The NSA was fined GHC6K after the court dismissed the injunction against the NSS scandal exposé.

The NSA was fined GHC6K after the court dismissed the injunction against the NSS scandal exposé. The National Service Authority (NSA) submitted an application for an injunction to stop The Fourth Estate, a division of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), from releasing their documentary about the NSS crisis, but the Accra High Court denied the request. Five days before the general election in 2024, on December 2, the investigative journal planned to release its most recent exposé on purportedly corrupt practices in the National Service Scheme. However, just 12 hours before the scheduled publication, the NSA obtained a 10-day injunction, which prevented the release.

The NSA filed a second lawsuit after the first injunction expired on December 12, claiming that if the exposé was released and then shown to be untrue, it would permanently damage its management and reputation. The NSA's legal team, Sam Okudzeto and Associates, retracted their case against the magazine during a hearing on December 19. The Fourth Estate was then permitted to publish after the court rejected the application for an injunction. The court also prohibited the NSA from bringing any more lawsuits to stop the exposé and granted the MFWA a GHC 6,000 cost award. The Fourth Estate responded to the court's decision by announcing that the exposé would soon be made public.

According to leaked records, the fraud allegedly involves more than 40,000 ghost names on the National Service Scheme payroll, which led to a loss of more than GHC 343 million annually for three years in a row. The NSA denied allegations of payroll fraud in a statement on December 16th, saying: The Authority is adamant that no system, electronic or manual, is completely impervious to errors. However, starting 2021, the problem of "Ghost Names" has been successfully addressed by the overwhelming evidence of attempts to remove fraudulent entries into the National Service system. The NSA stated that it is willing to look into the charges and characterized them as a threat to its revolutionary efforts to end such malpractices.

Source: ghheadlines.com