NSS Scandal: Minister issues fresh directive for termination of CMSP/Metric App, but D-G insists app is good

There appears to be a disagreement between the Minister for Youth Development and Empowerment, George Opare Addo, and the Director-General of the National Service Authority (NSA), Felix Gyamfi, about the propriety of the NSA’s CMSP/Metric App.

While the Minister has issued a fresh directive for the immediate termination of the system, which has been embroiled in the ghost names scandal, the Director-General, in response, says the system is suitable for the NSA to continue using it.

According to documents seen by The Fourth Estate, the minister said his directive was in exercise of his oversight responsibility as the supervising Minister of the NSA. The minister also indicated that the directive was given after his consideration of the report of auditors who were commissioned to audit the NSA following the ghost names scandal.

The minister further stated that his decision was in line with the instructions contained in a June 27 presidential directive mandating him to oversee the design and deployment of a new digital platform that ensures transparency and security, and real-time verification.

“You are hereby directed with immediate effect, to cease reliance on and use of the system provided by Inpath Technologies Limited and to commence the processes necessary to terminate any legal or contractual relationship between the NSA and the said provider,” the letter from the Minister dated August 25, 2025, said in part.

The Minister further instructed that a termination notice be issued within 72 hours and that all government property and credentials necessary for the continuation of operations be collected.

“You are hereby directed to constitute within five working days, a Transition and Implementation Steering Committee to supervise the design, implementation and operationalisation of a new platform that should be deployed within the next 15 days of receipt of this letter and report progress to the Ministry,” the Youth Empowerment Minister further directed.

But in what appears to be a determined position to maintain the current CSMP/Metric App provided and controlled by Inpatch Technologies Ltd, the Director-General of the NSA, Felix Gyamfi, responded to the Minister’s letter on August 27, 2025.

In his response, the director-general claimed that the origin of the NSA investigations was a headcount conducted in February after he assumed office. He adds that the current digital platform in question was used and that, in the end, it aided in the detection of irregularities.

He further claimed that since his assumption of office, compliance with the systems processes had saved the nation some GHC460 million this year alone.

Even though the Minister had indicated in his letter that he had considered the report of the auditors before issuing his directives, Mr. Gyamfi in his response, pointed out that the Audit findings concluded that the system was “fit for purpose” and that the financial malfeasance was not as a result of system deficiencies but rather due to circumvention of the system’s controls through “external manual processes.”

The director-general went on to state other findings from the audit that suggested that the system in place was robust to deal with potential fraud. He also catalogued other reasons why it will be challenging to discontinue the use of the current system.

On July 7, 2025, Mr. Gyamfi wrote to the Minister, forwarding and justifying a proposal from Inpath Technologies Ltd to hand over the platform to the NSA.  The owners and managers of the platform had valued it at $2 million, claiming that NSA would spend more if it were to have an alternative system with similar functionalities.

Background

The Fourth Estate’s exposé on the NSS Scandal, published earlier this year, revealed the padding of ghost names in the NSA database and manipulation of posting processes, which caused the government to pay millions of cedis to service personnel that only existed on paper. Beyond revealing the existence of ghost names in the NSA database, the publication raised critical questions about value-for-money, data security, and institutional integrity of the CSMP/Metric App.

The findings from The Fourth Estate’s investigations prompted the Office of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice to conduct their own investigations, which revealed that the top-level executives of the NSA and their private sector vendors, in a scheme, had mismanaged over 548 million Ghana cedis through Ghost names. The investigation prompted public demand for probity and accountability. In response, the Office of the President, through the Ministry of Youth and Empowerment, directed an immediate suspension of the CMSP/Metric App to allow for a comprehensive technical and forensic review.