In 2019, as per a report from The Fourth Estate, the Scholarships Secretariat provided a spousal allowance exceeding £6,000 to the wife of a scholarship recipient.
Desmond Asare, pursuing a Master’s programme at Birmingham City University, received £25,480 (equivalent to GHS 430,612) for tuition and stipend.
Meanwhile, Mr. Asare’s wife received a staggering spousal allowance of GHS 103,428, a revelation uncovered from data released by the Scholarships Secretariat to The Fourth Estate.
Further scrutiny revealed questionable sponsorship decisions, such as funding a student for Luxury and Fashion Management, a field with no recognized businesses in Ghana.
A former Ashesi University graduate, Chelsea Naa Arday, received €20,000 to pursue an MSc. in Luxury and Fashion Management at Paris Business School in France, highlighting questionable allocation practices.
The data disclosed a total expenditure of GHS 437.5 million by the Scholarships Secretariat over 2019 and 2020, encompassing both local and foreign scholarships.
This transparency followed a Right to Information Commission directive, emphasizing the public nature of scholarship funds.
However, analysis unveiled deviations from the secretariat’s mission to support deserving but underprivileged students and Ghanaian workers at minimal cost.
Moreover, concerns arose over awarding scholarships for courses readily available in local universities and colleges, including instances where politically connected individuals or elites’ relatives received multiple scholarships.
Such discrepancies underscore the urgency for stricter oversight and adherence to the secretariat’s mandate to ensure equitable access to educational opportunities for all deserving Ghanaians.