Gifty Oware-Mensah, former Deputy Executive Director of the National Service Authority (NSA), is scheduled to appear at the Accra High Court today, continuing proceedings in what has become one of Ghana’s most significant financial scandal cases.
The appearance comes more than a month after she secured bail on October 22, 2025, when she pleaded not guilty to five criminal counts during her first court appearance. Justice Audrey Kocuvi-Tay granted her bail set at ten million cedis with three sureties, two of whom were required to justify the amount with landed properties. Reports indicate Mrs Oware-Mensah spent several weeks in custody before meeting the stringent bail conditions.
The charges against her include stealing, willfully causing financial loss to the state, money laundering, and using public office for profit. Prosecutors allege she misappropriated GH¢38,458,248.87 between February 2022 and March 2024 while overseeing finance, audit, and procurement at the Authority.
According to court documents, Mrs Oware-Mensah allegedly created 9,934 fictitious names in the NSA database and used her private firm, Blocks of Life Consult, to obtain a GH¢31.5 million loan from the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB). She claimed her company had supplied goods to national service personnel on a hire purchase basis, but investigations revealed no goods were ever delivered and the names were ghost entries.
The Attorney-General filed the charges on Monday, October 13, 2025. Mrs Oware-Mensah was initially scheduled to appear on Friday, October 17, 2025, but her lawyer, Gary Nimako, presented a medical excuse duty indicating she was unwell. Justice Kocuvi-Tay expressed displeasure at her absence and warned the court would not tolerate repeated excuses during proceedings.
Funds from the fraudulent loan were allegedly transferred into her company’s account and subsequently moved to other businesses connected to her. Part of the misappropriated money was traced to Amaecom Global Company, where she held a directorship.
During the October 22 bail hearing, her attorney Nanabanyin Ackon argued she posed no flight risk, noting she is a married woman with a fixed residence in Accra and a three year old child. He told the court she had been cooperating with the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB) since March 2025 and that investigators had seized her passport.
The Director of Public Prosecutions, Yvonne Atakora Obuobisa, did not oppose bail but urged the court to impose conditions ensuring trial proceedings would not be disrupted. She requested that Mrs Oware-Mensah’s passport, held by the NIB, be deposited with the court registrar and released only with judicial approval.
A separate Auditor-General’s forensic report revealed additional allegations that Mrs Oware-Mensah illegally enrolled herself as a national service person while simultaneously serving as a full time salaried public officer. The audit found she was manually added to the NSS payroll and received allowances totaling GH¢6,708.48 despite failing to report to her assigned post at Koblimahagu Sobriya Primary School in Tamale.
The case forms part of a wider scandal involving the former NSA Executive Director, Osei Assibey Antwi, who faces separate charges involving alleged misappropriation exceeding GH¢600 million through payments to more than 60,000 ghost personnel.
The court has set the next hearing date for November 25, 2025. Today’s appearance will continue the legal process as prosecutors build their case against the former deputy director in what authorities describe as a major breach of public trust.
