Scholarship Secretariat Saga: 104 beneficiaries yet to return home despite signing bond – Fourth Estate editor

Senior reporter at The Fourth Estate, Seth Bokpe, says about 104 beneficiaries of the Scholarship Secretariat who went studying abroad are yet to return to Ghana.

This revelation follows an investigation into the activities of the Ghana Scholarship Secretariat by the media outfit

Speaking on Newsfile on JoyNews, he stressed that this is despite the fact that the beneficiaries signed bonds with the Secretariat promising to return to Ghana after the completion of their programmes.

“Majority of these courses we spend money on outside are in Ghanaian universities. We also found that at least 104 beneficiaries are yet to return to Ghana although they have signed bonds to do so.”

“At least three of these beneficiaries have been living abroad in the last five years, and it will be interesting to find out how they even signed their bonds before being given the scholarship,” Mr Bokpe added.

This comes after a recent exposé by the Fourth Estate revealed disparities in the allocation of scholarships.

Among other things, the investigation revealed that scholarships were sometimes offered to individuals from financially stable homes.

These individuals include daughters of Ghanaian lawyer and politician, Freddie Blay and former Inspector General of Police, David Asante-Apeatu.

This goes against its mandate of offering scholarships to needy but brilliant students.

Also, the report revealed that while some people do not get the scholarships and even if they do, struggle to get their stipend from the government, others are awarded double scholarships by the secretariat.

Addressing these findings, Mr Bokpe said they discovered that about 30 people who are either politicians, relatives of politicians, diplomats or are connected to our social elites had a scholarship.

He noted that the Scholarship Secretariat does not have any guidelines for the selection of applicants apart from the existing criteria of being Ghanaian and having a university degree.

“Contrary to the claims that the award has been decentralised to the extent that if you go to the district level you will get a scholarship, there is no evidence that those who went abroad were actually awarded at the district level,” Mr Bokpe said.

He added “The registrar told us that because of the courses involved, they do not award the foreign scholarships at the local level, so you have to apply in Accra. Now how do you apply in Accra if there is no call for application? There is no publication of even the list of beneficiaries to make the process transparent.”

Mr Bokpe added that their interview with Dr Clement Apaak showed that the Secretariat cannot be held accountable because it is under the Office of the President.

“When you hear the number of allegations that come against the Secretariat including people saying they paid so much to get it but then you have a situation where they are virtually shielded, it becomes problematic,” he said.