Gifty Oware-Mensah and Mustapha Ussif
When the scandal of ghost names on the payroll of the National Service Scheme first broke, the focus of the reactive attacks was on the Director-General, Osei Assibey Antwi, and the deputy, Gifty Oware-Mensah.
Ghanaians who reacted to the story attacked them because they believed that the scandal was a recent one that started under their reign, which was the second term of the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government.
It has, however, emerged that the extent of the scandal predates the arrival of Osei Assibey Antwi, with investigations going as far back as 2017 when the NPP assumed power.
In a presentation on TV3 on Saturday, February 15, Sulemana Braimah, the Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa, disclosed that the alleged manipulation of the payroll of the NSS occurred when Mustapha Ussif was the Director-General.
According to him, while the first year of Mustapha Ussif’s administration saw no dramatic rise in the number, the subsequent years witnessed a huge upturn in the number of persons enrolled in the scheme.
In his presentation, he showed a photograph of five persons believed to have supervised the scheme with photos of Mustapha Ussif and Gifty Oware-Mensah featuring prominently on it.
“We are talking about the period of Nana Akufo-Addo and not just last year. During the period, we had Mustapha Ussif, the first Director-General, with two deputies Nana B and Gifty Oware. After the 2020 elections, Assibey Yeboah was appointed, and Gifty was retained with another gentleman also as deputy. These are the five people who have managed the scheme from 2017 to 2024,” he said.
Mustapha Ussif’s connection with sports
In the last four years of Akufo-Addo’s terms, Mustapha Ussif served as the Minister of Youth and Sports.
Under him, Ghana successfully hosted the African Games and won a record number of medals – 69.
His tenure as sports minister saw the Black Stars crash out of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations and also fail to qualify for the 2025 AFCON.
Gifty Oware-Mensah’s connection with sports
Oware-Mensah is a member of the GFA Executive Council, co-owner of Berry Ladies Football Club, and Vice President of Berekum Chelsea.
She is also a member of the GFA’s management committee for the Black Maidens.
