Claims that the ringleader in Fourth Estate's investigative story "School Placement for Sale" is a staff member have been refuted by the Education Ministry.

The Rachel character in the documentary that exposed widespread fraud in the Computerized School Selection and Placement System (CSPSS) served as a go-between for the purported "powerful men" at the Education Ministry.

The Education Ministry's spokeswoman, Kwasi Kwarteng, stated that it is inaccurate that she is a staff member but that she had worked at the Ministry's canteen.

“The understanding that I have from Manasseh’s video is that she was a former worker with the Ministry where she used to work with the Ministry’s canteen, she was not even working for the Ministry per se, but a private individual working in the Ministry’s canteen,” he said.

However, Mr. Kwarteng stated anyone could have posed as a staff member in his organization to extort money from parents while speaking on JoyNews on Saturday about the eight people who were jailed for serving as middlemen for the Ministry.

“The Ministry of Education had rented a private facility at the GNAT hostel which operated as a resolution centre where we were serving the general public.

“It was possible that everybody could get in, establish the case, advance the reasons why there has to be changes for his or her ward. Within this process its possible there could be a compromise.

“Somebody can also take your money and make a very strong case without even any officer taking money, but of course the exploitation continues,” he added.

The spokesperson expressed his joy in the fact that the faces of these individuals were clear and believes the culprits will be able to expose the bad nuts at the Ministry.

Mr Kwarteng did not deny that there may be staff of the Ministry involved in the fraudulent act, but vehemently rejected the allegation that the heads of Education Ministry and Director General of the GES were involved.

The Minister of Education and Ghana Education Service are the only individuals with the passwords that give them access to place students in Grade A schools.

As such, after the investigation, many queried how the intermediaries were able to add names to the list of these schools.

Mr Kwarteng however, explained that 90% of placement was done through the automatic placement.

The remainder, he said, is then divided equally by the school and the Education Service, adding that heads of various school can accept students to their institution then send a message to the Service for approval.