President John Dramani Mahama has ordered a manhunt for perpetrators of the National Service ghost names scandal, some of whom reportedly fled to overseas exile. While delivering his second-term State of the Nation Address to Parliament on Thursday, February 27, President Mahama revealed that more than 80,000 ghost names were added to the National Service payroll and could draw more than GHS 50 million of public funds monthly.
Such brazen looting of taxpayer funds needs to stop and be punished," he stated, pointing out that he had instructed the investigating agencies to trace and prosecute the guilty parties behind the act.
Formally, the authorities are charging the escaped suspects with arrest warrants and tracking and freezing their assets until the time that the investigations have been completed successfully. "No one who had a hand in this fraud will be going free," President Obama vowed.
To prevent such abuses in the future, President Mahama has indicated the necessity of strengthening the grip of the National Service Scheme. He tasked the Minister for Youth Development and Empowerment to draft a Legislative Instrument (LI) to supplement the just-enacted National Service Authority Act 2024 (Act 1119).
Apart from that, the president also proposed including brief military training in the national service scheme. "This will impart a sense of discipline and fitness to our youth," he stated.
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