GES Recruitment Scandal

Case Reference : FT/0035/2025 Republic v. Ibrahim Kofi Sessah & Gloria Acquah

The accused persons, Ibrahim Kofi Sessah, a 30-year-old Technician at the Local Government Service, Adeiso District, and Gloria Acquah, a 30-year-old Nurse at Dansoman Polyclinic, are standing trial before the High Court in Accra for their involvement in an illegal recruitment scheme involving the sale of appointment letters into the Ghana Education Service (GES).

The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) commenced investigations on 9 January 2024 into an alleged unlawful recruitment scheme within the Ghana Education Service (GES). The investigations established that the first accused, Mr Ibrahim Kofi Sessah, in concert with Anthony Gyasi (currently at large), an IT Officer at the Head Office of the GES; Sadia Alhassan (at large), a teacher at Philip Quaque Boys Basic School; and Francis Asare (at large), a private businessman, engaged in a corrupt enterprise whereby they solicited and received a total sum of Six Million, Forty-Two Thousand and Six Hundred Ghana Cedis (GHS 6,042,600.00) into Mr Sessah’s Zenith Bank account.

These funds, obtained from over one hundred prospective teacher applicants between January 2022 and December 2023, were paid under the false representation that the accused persons could secure employment for the applicants within the GES. Of the total amount received, Mr Sessah is alleged to have retained Five Hundred and Eighty Thousand Ghana Cedis (GHS 580,000.00) for his personal benefit, and subsequently transferred the remainder to Anthony Gyasi in an attempt to conceal the illicit origin of the funds.

The second accused, Gloria Acquah, is alleged to have collected GHS 55,000.00 from 11 applicants and handed it over to Sessah to facilitate their recruitment. She admitted to facilitating the recruitment of at least six named individuals into the GES.
 
The accused persons are currently facing four counts on an amended charge sheet, namely:

1. Using public office for profit
    
2. Giving bribe to influence a public officer
    
3. Money laundering
    
4. Abetment of crime – using public office for profit