An Accra High Court has dismissed former Deputy National Service Director, Gifty Oware-Mensah’s application to halt her trial.
The High Court, according to reports, also rejected Gifty Oware-Mensah’s legal team reguest to refer constitutional issues to the Supreme Court, describing it as lacking merit.
The court directed her to comply with witness disclosure rules as proceedings continue.
The case has since been adjourned to 18th February, 2026.
The news shared by GHOne News card stated, “High Court dismisses Gifty Oware-Mensah’s bid to halt trial, rejects request to refer case to Supreme Court”.
It will be recalled that the High Court had earlier ordered the accused to file her list of witnesses on December 22, 2025, but she failed to file them.
Gary Nimako Marfo told the court that she is unable to call any witnesses argyuing that his client’s ability to provide witnesses depends on the case and the nature of the evidence.
However, the Judge disagreed, saying, “As already indicated above, these are orders emanating from the law and principles of case management. It is an order given by the court,” she said. “It is not for counsel to choose and pick which orders of the court he would comply with and when it would be complied with.”
“If, for any reason, counsel is of the view that the orders of the court are not emanating from the principles of law, he must exercise the right timeously to appeal against the same,” she said.
Justice Audrey Kocuvi-Tay adjourned the case for the trial to start January 22, 2026.
Justice Audrey Kocuvi-Tay, an Accra High Court judge presiding over the case of former Deputy Executive Director of the National Service Authority, Gifty Oware-Mensah, has rejected a request to slow down proceedings.
Gary Nimako Marfo, the lawyer for Gifty Oware, pleaded with the court to delay the commencement of her trial to allow more time to address pre-trial issues.
He made this plea following the Director of Public Prosecution, Yvonne Atakora Obuobisa, informing the court of the prosecution’s intention to make adjustments to the figures in the charge sheet.
The presiding judge, however unhappy with the approach, stated that the proposed amendments would not stop the court from fixing a date for the trial to begin.
The Judge stated, “If I were you, I would have asked one of my colleagues to quickly do that and serve them now because they [counsel for the accused] are here”.
Lawyers for embattled Oware-Mensah saw an opportunity to request that the court allow more time for the amendments to be completed and served before a trial date is fixed.
Gary Nimako Marfo stated, “My Lady, let the prosecution amend the charge sheet as she has informed the court before setting a date for the trial. Without that, it is obvious we cannot do anything,” he said, before adding, “My Lady, please go slowly.”
Justice Kocuvi-Tay immediately ordered defence counsel to withdraw their statement, saying, “What do you mean by I should go slowly? Withdraw that statement. I am here to work”.
Background
Mrs Oware-Mensah, accused of causing a financial loss of over GH¢38 million to the state, has denied all charges.
In court, Gifty Oware-Mensah pleaded not guilty to five charges levelled against her by the Attorney General.
The former NSA Deputy Executive Director pleaded not guilty to five charges, including stealing and money laundering, in the ₵38 million ghost names scandal.
The Attorney-General’s Department alleged Gifty Oware-Mensah misappropriated a total of GH¢38,458,248.87 between February 2022 and March 2024, overseeing finance, audit, and procurement at the NSA.
According to prosecutors, she dishonestly transferred GH¢31.5 million from a loan facility meant to support National Service Personnel into her private company accounts.
The said money was under the pretext of supplying goods on a hire-purchase basis; however, investigation revealed no such goods were supplied, and the names used to secure the loan were ghost names from the NSA’s internal system.
AG also alleged, “Out of the money received, the accused transferred GH¢22,925,518,69 to Amaecom Global Company of which she was a director, and the remaining amount to three other companies.”
Gifty Oware-Mensah’s charges include “Stealing GH¢31,502,091.40 belonging to the National Service Authority. Willfully causing financial loss to the state through the fake hire-purchase arrangement, Abuse of public office for personal gain and Money laundering through the transfer of funds into personal and affiliated accounts”.
See the post below:
High Court in Accra has dismissed former NSA Deputy Executive Director, Gifty Oware-Mensah’s application to halt her trial and refer constitutional issues to the Supreme Court, describing it as lacking merit. The court directed her to comply with witness disclosure rules as… pic.twitter.com/l7zg5PkMcP
— GHOne TV (@ghonetv) February 10, 2026