Scholarship Secretariat is a complete waste - Domelevo

Daniel Domelevo, a former Auditor-General, has criticised the Ghana Scholarship Secretariat over what he termed as a lack of clear guidelines in determining deserving scholarship recipients.

Domelevo highlighted instances where scholarships earmarked for financially disadvantaged students were instead awarded to politically connected individuals and their kin.

After an investigation led by The Fourth Estate, it was revealed that scholarships meant for disadvantaged students were instead awarded to the daughters of well-known political figures, including a past National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Freddie Blay, and a former Inspector General of Police David Asante Apeatu.

The report cited Gifty Oware-Mensah (née Oware-Aboagye) obtained a government scholarship of GBP18,450 to study at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom in 2020 to pursue an MSc in Development Policy and Politics. She was awarded the scholarship three years after she started working for the National Service Secretariat as Deputy Executive Director. In the same year, she acquired Berry Ladies FC, a female football club formerly known as Halifax Ladies FC, currently playing in Ghana’s women's premier league.

Speaking on JoyNews on April 8, 2024, Domelevo emphasised the need for judicious discretion in public office, stressing the importance of adhering to established guidelines to ensure fairness and objectivity in the allocation process.

"In our audit report, one of our concerns was that according to the law, the monies should be given to the Scholarship Secretariat for them to administer, but then GETFund was administering it themselves.

"I am told that has changed, so the money has been given to the Scholarship Secretariat, who, from my point of view, is administering scholarships 24/7.

"But if this is how they are administering scholarships, then they are a complete waste. It is better if we scrap it. Not just waste; they are useless.

"I wish I had a harsher word for them because 24/7 that is what they do, and they have not been able to come up with any guidelines to determine who qualifies for this to ensure they are within the remit of the law," myjoyonline.com quoted him to have said.

AM/SEA

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