Supreme Court rejects bid to halt Gifty Oware-Mensah trial over GH¢38 million NSA case

The Supreme Court has thrown out an application seeking to suspend the ongoing criminal trial of former Deputy Executive Director of the National Service Authority (NSA), Gifty Oware-Mensah, clearing the way for proceedings at the High Court to continue.

Oware-Mensah is facing trial over allegations that she caused financial loss exceeding GH¢38 million to the state through a fraudulent scheme involving ghost names on the National Service payroll system.

The application, filed by her lawyer, Gary Nimako Marfo, sought to stop the High Court proceedings pending a constitutional challenge against a criminal practice direction that requires accused persons to disclose the names and addresses of defence witnesses during a Case Management Conference.

Delivering its ruling on Tuesday, May 19, a five-member panel of the apex court, presided over by Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, held that the request failed to meet the legal threshold necessary for a stay of proceedings.

The court ruled that even if the accused wished to challenge the constitutionality of the practice direction, there was no justification to halt the criminal trial at the High Court.

“We are of the view that, having reviewed the processes so far, the application for stay does not meet the threshold for stay of proceedings.

“The applicant may choose to pursue the interpretation of the practice direction but the trial at the High Court may still go on,” Chief Justice Baffoe-Bonnie stated.

The ruling represents another major setback for the former NSA official, whose efforts to pause the criminal proceedings have repeatedly failed.

Oware-Mensah was charged in October 2025 by the Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Dr Dominic Ayine, over allegations that she orchestrated the creation of 9,934 ghost names on the NSA Central Management System.

According to the prosecution, she allegedly used the ghost names to facilitate a fraudulent financial arrangement involving Blocks of Life Consult Limited, a company prosecutors claim she secretly controlled through proxies, including her mother’s driver, who was allegedly made a director of the company.

Prosecutors allege that she presented the company to the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) as a supplier operating a hire purchase scheme for national service personnel and used the allowances of the fictitious beneficiaries as collateral to secure financing.

The prosecution contends that the arrangement enabled her to fraudulently obtain GH¢38,458,248.87 from the bank through deductions made over an 11 month period from allowances linked to the non existent service personnel.

She has been charged with five counts, including wilfully causing financial loss to the state, using public office for profit, and money laundering.

Oware-Mensah has denied all charges and remains on bail granted by the High Court, presided over by Justice Audrey Kocuvie-Tay.

The legal dispute that reached the Supreme Court arose after the trial court directed the accused to file a list of defence witnesses and their addresses during the case management stage.

Her legal team argued that the directive violated Article 19(2)(c) of the 1992 Constitution, which guarantees the presumption of innocence for persons accused of criminal offences.

The disputed requirement is contained in the Practice Direction on Disclosure and Case Management in Criminal Proceedings 2018, introduced under former Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo to promote faster and more efficient criminal trials.

Clause 2(3)(a) of the practice direction compels accused persons, for case management purposes, to disclose the names and addresses of witnesses they intend to call if ordered to open their defence.

The defence had asked the High Court to refer the constitutional question to the Supreme Court for interpretation, but the trial judge rejected the request, ruling that no substantial constitutional issue had been demonstrated to justify suspending the proceedings.

With the Supreme Court now dismissing the latest attempt to halt the trial, the criminal case against Oware-Mensah is expected to proceed at the High Court.