The pressure group, Forum for Governance and Justice (FGJ) is urging president John Mahama to immediately dissolve the Governing Board of the National Service scheme (NSS) over the corruption scandal that has hit the scheme.
According to the group, members of the board cannot absolve themselves from the recent rot discovered at the secretariat.
Investigations initiated on the scheme by the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) indicate that about GHC7.9 million was paid to 22,612 non-existent national service persons in more than 100 districts in July 2014.
[contextly_sidebar id=”EGH7xqHmvG2uJFxctxe5yz9xuOZZFqxS”]According to the findings, the NSS Director, Ahaji Alhassan allegedly tried to bribe the investigators a sum of about GH¢100,000 in an attempt to silence the BNI team.
The publication of the findings has generated public outcry with many people calling for an expedite action against the indicted officials.
On Friday, however, the Governing Board of the scheme, after an emergency meeting directed the Executive Director of the NSS, Alhaji Alhassan Imoro and all other indicted officials to step down to pave way for further investigations to go on.
But Speaking to Citi News the Director of Communications for the FGJ Robert Afulimi, insisted that President Mahama must “as a matter of urgency dissolve the governing board as some members of the board may have been partners or beneficiaries of the whole looting caboodle which is still under investigations. This will further facilitate transparency in investigations.”
“The board itself is not clean on these matters…we can’t also allow the board of the national service secretariat to also be seen working or taking over the operations of the NSS since they are either not clean in this whole scandal,” he added.
Meanwhile a member of the board Isaac Annan Riverson has rejected accusations seeking to implicate them.
in an interview with Citi News Mr. Riverson challenged any individual or group with evidence of the board’s involvement in the corruption scandal to submit it to the BNI.
“If he has any evidence that any board member who profited from this scandal in anyway, let them come out and say it!” he fumed.
A former board member of the NSS told Citi News earlier that the current corruption scandal that has hit the scheme had existed for over a decade.
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By: Godwin Allotey Akweiteh/citifmonline.com/Ghana