Sometime you are rich. Sometimes you are poor. Sometime you have no money but you feel rich. I remember when I used to play monopoly on a regular basis. Even though those were the dark days of my life, with no where to sleep, very little to eat and roamed for hours just to find a spot to place my monopoly game, my virtual buying of property and building of houses and hotels made me feel rich.

Most people feel rich at times. They feel some joy or get into a good mood for no particular reason. This feeling is very common with Ghanaians and I will tell you why.

I know most of you have heard of the word telepathy. It is scientifically defined as the purported transmission of information from one person to another without using any of our known sensory channels or physical interaction.

Yes, most Ghanaians are living a telepathic life as some greedy government officials have entered them into government payroll without their knowledge and are receiving money monthly in their name. Anytime you feel rich when you know very well that you may go to bed hungry remember that it is possible you have been paid and having a telepathic reaction.

Ghost names in government payroll have been a huge Ghanaian problem since time in memorial. This is Ghana’s biggest organized crime. Unfortunately, government has shown very little or no interest in dealing with this cancer because perpetrators are unimaginably people at the very top of society and in politics, who should know better or are even part of those who must investigate and bring an end to it.

I was not the least surprised when officials of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) uncovered a GH¢7.9 million deep-rooted rot at the National Service Secretariat (NSS). An amount that represents the allowance paid to 22,612 non-existent service persons in more than 100 districts across the country in July.

During the investigation, some of these government official attempted to bribe BNI officials with an amount of GH¢200.000.00, smocks, tubers of yam, laptops and goats. It take only a shameless thief to attempt to bribe someone with a goat and tubers of yam.

Though investigations have not been concluded, about 22,612 ghost names have so far been uncovered so far. At the current monthly allowance of GH¢350 per service person, that means that at least GH¢7,914,200 was lost to the state every month and about GH¢94,970,400 annually.

This is the National Service Scheme only. Please don’t attempt imagining what is happening in other public sectors. Your brain will crash.

Anytime you feel happiness inside you and you get into a good mood for no particular reason, remember it is possible you just got paid, just that your money is in someone’s pocket.

A-Plus Corner is a regular column on GhanaCelebrities.Com written by Ghanaian comedian/musician, A-Plus (real name Kwame Asare Obeng) and it employs SATIRE but he defines the direction.

Some learn to be funny but A-Plus spends majority of his day avoiding to be funny—perhaps it is a disease but we love this disease.

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