The Ghana Scholarship Secretariat’s head of diaspora relations, Richard A. Gyamfi, has stated that the Secretariat cannot be held liable for the failure to pay on time the stipends and tuition fees owed to Ghanaian medical students enrolled at Ukrainian universities.
He said the Secretariat is helpless if the Ministry of Finance fails to release funds for the students on time.
Some Ghanaian medical students studying in Ukraine are facing the threat of expulsion due to a lack of payment from the government for their monthly stipends and tuition spanning over months.
One of the students, Seth Ofori Nyazu in an interview with the media, said all efforts to get their allowances have proved futile.
“The government has not paid our tuition fees, after several meetings, this tuition fees we are crying for help to cover the 2021/2022 academic year. 2020/2021, we were not paid in full, and the secretariat is not responding to our calls, messages and emails,” he lamented.
Responding to this on the Eyewitness News, Mr. Gyamfi, stated that it’s not deliberate that government hasn’t paid the tuition fees.
“It’s not deliberate that the secretariat is unable to pay the tuition of the students. Releasing funds to the embassy was affected by the war. We had 13 beneficiary students who are under the scholarship secretariat. We understand, and we know that we are owing the students, in terms of stipends and tuition. And that is not the fault of the secretariat, because it’s just a vehicle. The Ministry [of Finance] releases funds to us, and we disburse to the students,” he pointed out.
He said some of the students are out of school, yet they are demanding tuition fees, hence they have been asked to provide evidence of documents proving that they are still in school.
“After the war, when we had a meeting with the students, almost all of them were displaced. Unfortunately, we had no money then, it’s only last week we received some funds. And we have been able to pay 3 students who are still studying in Ukraine. We have 13 students on our list. We have asked the students to provide documents to prove to us that they are still in education, because when we compiled their documents, one of their own told us that, most of the students are not in school.
“So we decided that instead of making a blanket payment which will come with repercussions, prove to us that you are in school. If we are satisfied that you are in school, the scholarship award will be renewed,” Mr. Gyamfi said.