Ghana’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Sabah Zita Benson, has raised concerns over alleged abuses at the Ghana Scholarships Secretariat during the erstwhile administration.
She has since called on the Bureau of National Intelligence to expedite investigations into the matter and recover funds that were improperly spent on beneficiaries and their families.
Madam Benson wants the investigations to establish how taxpayers’ money was allegedly used to fund travel, accommodation, and monthly allowances for the spouses and children of scholarship beneficiaries under the Akufo-Addo administration.
“…BNI must move fast and make arrests and make people pay for this. People must refund,” she said in a recent interview.
She said documents she had reviewed depict serious irregularities under the former leadership of the Scholarships Secretariat.
She cited instances in which scholarship beneficiaries travelling to the UK for postgraduate studies were allegedly accompanied by their spouses and children, with the cost of their travel and monthly allowances reportedly covered by the scholarship scheme.
According to her, in one case involving a beneficiary pursuing a master’s programme, the cost of visas, yellow fever cards, and air tickets for the family was estimated at about £90,000, while the husband and three children were allegedly paid monthly allowances.
Madam Benson questioned the justification for using public funds to support entire families when the scholarship was awarded to an individual, arguing that such practices may have contributed to the financial difficulties currently facing the Secretariat.
