National Service Scandal: Gifty Oware-Mensah faces charges for stealing over GHS38 million

Gifty Oware-Mensah, the former Deputy Executive Director of the National Service Authority (NSA), has been arraigned before the High Court in Accra on a range of charges including stealing, causing financial loss to the state, money laundering, and abuse of public office.

The Attorney-General’s Department has accused Oware-Mensah of embezzling GH¢38,458,248.87 between February 2022 and March 2024 while she was responsible for overseeing finance, audit, and procurement at the NSA.

Prosecutors allege that Oware-Mensah fraudulently transferred GH¢31.5 million from a loan facility intended to support National Service Personnel into the account of her private company, Blocks of Life Consult.

The loan was supposedly for supplying goods on a hire-purchase basis, but investigations revealed that no such goods were ever provided. Furthermore, the names used to secure the loan were found to be fabricated, sourced from the NSA’s internal system.

The charges against her include:

• Stealing GH¢31,502,091.40 from the National Service Authority




• Willfully causing financial loss to the state through a fraudulent hire-purchase arrangement




• Abuse of public office for personal enrichment




• Money laundering, including transferring funds into personal and affiliated accounts

The loan in question was obtained from the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB), with repayments initially set to be deducted from the allowances of 9,934 National Service Personnel, later discovered to be entirely fictitious.

Investigations also revealed that some of the misappropriated funds were funneled into Amaecom Global Company, where Oware-Mensah held a directorial role, and other companies associated with her.

The investigation into Oware-Mensah's alleged crimes was launched by the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB) following reports of financial mismanagement and corruption within the NSA.