Several Ghanaian politicians have been indicted by the country’s Auditor General for illegally benefitting from the country’s scholarship secretariat.
The performance audit report said the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) Secretariat “breached the objective of the fund and failed to establish any systems, policies and procedures to ensure the economic, efficient and effective use of public funds.
The actions of the GETFund, according to the audit report led to brilliant but needy students being deprived of scholarship in favour of politicians in some cases.
This led to the “imprudent administration of scholarships” between 2012 and 2018. The report noted that the GETFund exceeded scholarship amounts by 300 percent from 2012 to 2014.
Beneficiaries
Ghana’s Education Minister, Matthew Opoku-Prempeh and the Procurement Minister, Sarah Adwoa Safo who is also a top lawmaker are said to be beneficiaries of the disbursements.
The Procurement Minister is listed studying at the Harvard Kennedy School and benefiting from $12,800 in allowances with $17,004 in tuition fees.
The Education minister, Dr. Opoku Prempeh is listed as participating in a course on National and International Security at Harvard University where he received $12,800 for living expenses and $11,200 as tuition fees.
Head of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA), Dr Prince Hamid Armah has also been cited for receiving £38,400 for living expense in addition to £33,000 for tuition fees.
Reactions
The Education Minister, Opoku Prempeh has denied suggestions that he abused his office to receive the scholarship.
In a statement he noted that he was a recipient of a GETFund award in 2014 three years after his appointment.
Reacting to the report, Dr Armah in a Facebook post said the scholarship predates his current position as the Executive Secretary of the NaCCA.
According to GETFund its mandate is not limited to serving needy but brilliant students in line with the GETFund Act 2000.
It said “The fund may, per its mandate, also provide support for other educational activities and programmed to serve strategic national interests.”
GETFund also noted that the scholarships were not awarded by the Fund’s current administration.
Anti-corruption campaigner Vitus Azeem told Africa Feeds that the named officials must refund the monies.
There have been several reactions from Ghanaians on social media who are outraged at the development.
Source: Africafeeds.com
