Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the Member of Parliament for the North Tongu Constituency, has called for the introduction of legislation to regulate scholarships in the country.
He argued that the existing system has been undermined by certain officials who exploit their positions to secure scholarships for their own children.
In an interview on Onua TV on Monday, August 26, 2024, which was followed by GhanaWeb, he emphasized that such a law is essential to guarantee that scholarships are awarded solely to deserving students who are both talented and in need.
“For the first time in this country’s history, we are going to have a law on scholarships. So, the time has come for us to have a law on scholarships. The law will ban politicians, government officials, and politically-exposed persons from receiving scholarships.
“Scholarships are supposed to be for brilliant but needy students. It has to be reserved for the vulnerable, but some privileged members of society, like ministers and MPs, are taking it for themselves, and they are not even ashamed, they come out to defend it,” he stated.
He mentioned that the upcoming NDC administration will implement a merit-based scholarship system designed to align with the country’s development objectives.
“As a country, where do we want to be in the next ten years or the next twenty years? Should we be giving scholarships to people to go and do courses that do not align with our development goals or with our human resource gaps?
“There are some regions that do not have a single gynaecologist. In some regions, you will struggle to find an ophthalmologist or an engineer working with REGSEC or with the district assembly,” he added.
He emphasized the importance of establishing a unified scholarship program across the country.
“The NPP has created several avenues for scholarships because of cronyism. GETFUND has a scholarship, GNPC has a scholarship, the presidency has one, COCOBOD has one, and GOIL has one. We need to bring all the scholarships under one umbrella, and every year we will make the list of beneficiaries public.
“People are granted scholarships, and they receive rent allowances yet they go and do intake courses and you wonder why? The abuse of scholarships will stop under the next NDC government. Under this current government, if you are not connected, you cannot get a scholarship,” he noted.
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa also pointed out that the youth in Ghana are progressively losing trust in the country’s democratic process and overall progress.
“We are saying that that must stop. There has be real opportunities for all people, and we are going to deal with that head-on,” he stated.