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The Ministry of Education is set to restructure the Scholarship Secretariat through a new scholarship bill, the Ghana Scholarship Authority Bill.
The Minister for Education, Haruna Iddrisu has said the bill will be laid before Parliament when it reconvenes.
He announced the inauguration of the Board of Trustees of the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) in Accra. Mr. Iddrisu stated that the new bill is intended to eliminate the cronyism and nepotism that have long plagued the administration of scholarships in the country.
“Apart from dealing with cronyism and nepotism and giving scholarships to those who are undeserving, the emphasis will be on merit,” he said. The minister added that the new law would ensure that scholarships are awarded to deserving students and help Ghanaian institutions develop world-class faculties.
He announced the introduction of a new Local Scholarship Initiative as part of the proposed reforms. He explained that the initiative would allow each public university in Ghana to receive support for the training of at least five doctoral candidates locally.
The reforms follow an investigation by The Fourth Estate, which revealed that scholarships meant to support academically gifted but financially disadvantaged students were often dished out to individuals with strong political ties and people from well-off backgrounds.
The Scholarship Bonanza series exposed a list of politically connected individuals and social elites as beneficiaries of scholarship awards, including Dr. Dennis Addo, the founder of the Claron Hospital, and a member of the New Patriotic Party; Lucie Ekeleba Blay, daughter of Freddie Blay, the then Board Chairman of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation and former National Chairman of the NPP; Gifty Oware-Mensah, the then Deputy Director of the Ghana National Service Secretariat; and Nana Adubea Asante-Apeatu, the daughter of a former Inspector-General of Police, David Asante-Apeatu.
The investigation also found cases where the Scholarship Secretariat awarded some individuals multiple scholarships, with amounts ranging from GBP 13,250 to GBP 55,000, covering tuition and living expenses for foreign studies. Meanwhile, countless deserving students in Ghana are denied this support and are left struggling to continue their education. Many others outside the political and influential circles who received scholarships are now facing harsh realities—tuition and living expenses are in arrears, leaving some at risk of deportation. Others are forced to turn to unconventional means just to scrape together enough money for tuition and hostel fees.
The investigative series is based on analyses of data reluctantly provided by the Scholarships Secretariat in response to a right-to-information request for a list of scholarship beneficiaries.
The investigation led to widespread public outrage and political discourse, sparking demands for accountability and pressure for the scholarship system to be overhauled. The former Auditor-General, Daniel Yao Domelevo; the Executive Director of the Institute of Education Studies, Dr Peter Anti; and the former President of the Ghana Bar Association, Yaw Acheampong Boafo, condemned the practice and urged Parliament to enact a law to streamline the Secretariat’s operations to promote equity and transparency in the administration of scholarships.
In the lead-up to the 2024 general elections, both the National Democratic Congress (NDC), then in opposition, and the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) pledged to reform the government scholarship scheme.
The NDC, in its manifesto launched on August 24, 2024, said it will introduce legislation to regulate the award of scholarships, barring political appointees and their associates from benefitting. It further pledged to align scholarship awards with national policies and eliminate political patronage, corruption, cronyism, and nepotism in the award of government scholarships.
President John Dramani Mahama, who was then a flagbearer, criticised what he described as entrenched political patronage in the scholarship scheme and committed to aligning scholarship awards with national development goals.
At the same time, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) also promised in its 2024 manifesto to enhance transparency by publishing a comprehensive list of scholarship beneficiaries annually.
The NPP proposed integrating databases across agencies managing public scholarship schemes—including the Scholarship Secretariat, Student Loans Trust Fund (SLTF), GETFund, and GNPC Scholarship Scheme—to improve oversight and eliminate duplications.
The then Vice President and flagbearer of the NPP, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, reaffirmed this commitment during a media engagement, stressing the party’s intention to streamline and bring transparency to the administration of public scholarships.
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