Radio and media personality Afia Pokua, popularly known as Vim Lady, has expressed outrage following allegations that former Deputy National Service Scheme (NSS) Director, Gifty Oware Mensah, orchestrated a fraudulent scheme within the institution.
In a submission on Okay FM on October 23, 2025, Vim Lady noted the appalling nature of the alleged misconduct, especially given that many Ghanaian graduates under the scheme struggle to receive their monthly allowances.
She recalled parts of the Attorney General’s report, which accused Oware Mensah of using her spouse’s Ghana Card to set up shell companies that allegedly siphoned funds meant for national service personnel.
“What even gives you away is the fact that your husband is testifying against you. That shows you are a malicious person. You took your husband’s Ghana card to open a company. You had opened all these companies to siphon money meant for national service personnel,” she said
The outspoken journalist also pointed out the exploitation of struggling youth, noting that some service personnel are forced to share rooms or rely on friends for accommodation due to delayed payments.
“These personnel were working every day, suffering, and they couldn’t get paid on time. Some had to perch with their friends in hostels cause they couldn’t afford rent.
“How much were they earning that you had to take that meagre amount and still add ghost names on top? We were seeing 100-year-old and 3-year-old people on the list. Why?” she questioned.
Vim Lady further suggested that Oware Mensah’s alleged attempt to buy a football team was part of a grand strategy to gain legitimacy and avoid scrutiny.
She quipped that the bizarre case is worthy of a “Netflix documentary” given its scale and audacity.
“Your brain has to be studied… after this case, we need a Netflix documentary on this,” she noted.
Gifty Oware-Mensah and her husband, lawyer Peter Mensah, are at the centre of Ghana’s largest recent public sector scandal involving ghost names, fraudulent contracts, and money laundering.
Prosecutors allege that between 2022 and 2024, Oware-Mensah used her private company, Blocks of Life Consult (BLC), to insert nearly 10,000 fake names into the NSA payroll system and obtained bank loans worth over GH₵31.5 million from the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) using the fake personnel’s allowances as collateral.
Her husband’s Ghana Card details were allegedly used without his knowledge to register some of the companies involved; he has since become a cooperating witness for the state.
The former NSA deputy faces five charges, including stealing, abuse of office, willfully causing financial loss, and money laundering, totalling GH₵38 million, while Peter Mensah faces potential aiding and fraud charges but may be treated as a state witness.
The Accra High Court granted Gifty a GH₵10 million bail with travel restrictions.
The case has triggered national outrage, especially after revelations that ghost names included fictitious service personnel.
