Former Minister of Health, Dr Bernard Okoe Boye, has denied benefiting from a living allowance from the Ghana Scholarships Secretariat during his five-year PhD programme in the United Kingdom.

Speaking on Metro TV's Good Morning Ghana on August 14, 2026, he clarified that he did not receive the allowances attached to the scholarship package.

Dr Okoe Boye explained that his scholarship arrangement covered his tuition fees but that he personally financed his travel and accommodation throughout his studies.

Dr Okoe Boye said that although he was aware that scholarship conditions could provide living expenses of about £15,000 a year and allow beneficiaries to travel with their spouses, he did not take advantage of those provisions.

“I could have taken my partner, their wife, to the UK. They said the rules allow it. Living expenses, about £15,000 a year. Plenty of kids. All came with the programme,” he said.

He said he instead informed the authorities that he did not require financial support beyond his tuition fees because of his status as a politician.

“I told them, apart from paying that school, I don’t need a dime from you because I’m a politician,” he said.

The former minister said he personally paid for his air tickets during the five years he travelled to the UK for the programme.

“I paid for my own plane tickets. For five years, I’ve been going to Brunel. Sometimes I ask friends to buy me tickets,” he said.

He also said he paid for his accommodation, including staying in Airbnb facilities during his visits to the UK.

“When I go, I pay Airbnb. I slept in Airbnb for all the five years,” he said.

According to Dr Okoe Boye, he also paid for accommodation when he travelled for his thesis defence.

“My assistant, Kelvin, he pays from my account. Not one pound came from Ghana. What they paid was the fees,” he stated.

He further disclosed that he paid his own tuition fees during the third year of his programme.

He said the university subsequently informed him that, because of the progress he had made with his research, it would take care of the remainder of his programme.

“My third year, because of all these problems with scholarship, they stopped paying the fees. The school wrote to me that because of the rate of my progress, they would take care of the rest of the programme,” he explained.

Dr Okoe Boye said his decision to decline additional financial benefits was also influenced by his position as a politically exposed person.

“I told Scholarships I'm entitled to pay tickets. I don’t want it. Whatever you want to give me, take it, because I am politically exposed,” he said.

He argued that there was nothing inherently wrong with the state paying tuition fees for a professional pursuing a PhD, particularly where the research addresses an important national challenge.

His doctoral research focused on incentives for health workers and ways to improve their distribution between Accra and rural areas.

“My thesis was on incentives for health workers. How to make sure distribution becomes normal between Accra and the village,” he added.

He said the university was interested in the research because of his professional background and experience in Ghana’s health sector.

Spouses, children received £8,160 and health benefit - Zita 'exposes' alleged scholarship scandal

Dr Okoe Boye maintained that in his case, the scholarship covered his academic fees only and that he did not receive the additional living, travel or family-related benefits being discussed in connection with the controversy.

His comments come amid concerns over alleged abuses at the Ghana Scholarships Secretariat, including claims that public funds were used to finance the travel, accommodation and allowances of spouses and children of some scholarship beneficiaries.

Ghana’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Sabah Zita Benson, has called on the Bureau of National Intelligence (BNI) to expedite investigations into the alleged abuses and recover monies she says were improperly spent on beneficiaries and their families.

She said documents she had reviewed suggested that some scholarship beneficiaries travelling to the UK for postgraduate studies were accompanied by their spouses and children, with their travel costs and monthly allowances allegedly covered by the scholarship scheme.

Watch the video below:

I turned down all my entitlements from the Secretariat. Ghana didn't pay me a single dime for my scholarship - Dr Okoe Boye sets the record straight on his scholarship program#GoodMorningGhana #MetroTV pic.twitter.com/KyORTDmxPD

— Metro TV Ghana (@metrotvgh) August 14, 2026