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The President of the Ghana Bar Association, Yaw Acheampong Boafo, has called for a review of how government scholarships are awarded.
His demand follows The Fourth Estate’s investigation, titled “Scholarship Bonanza” which exposed how individuals with political connections and those from well-to-do backgrounds benefitted from scholarships at the expense of brilliant but needy people.
Delivering a speech at the GBA’s annual Bar conference, Mr Boafo expressed concern about the corruption, nepotism, and political patronage plaguing the scholarship process. He criticised the current process, calling for scholarships to be awarded based on merit, financial need, and relevance to critical areas of study.
“In my opinion, the award of government scholarships should be only what it is,” he stated, “That is informed by real merit, economic and financial need of beneficiaries especially those from poor backgrounds and relevant to specific critical areas of study and research particularly in science, technology, and research programmes that are not offered by local universities.”
I find it immoral and troubling that government are given or awarded to persons with political connections and who are already from privileged and rich backgrounds at the expense of brilliant but truly needy individuals and students.”
The politically connected and the rich benefit
The Scholarship Bonanza series revealed a list of politically connected individuals and social elites as beneficiaries, 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, Board Chairman of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, and former National Chairman of the NPP; Gifty Oware-Mensah, a 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 of those 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.
It is equally unacceptable for multiple government scholarships to be given to an individual while in some cases, awardees take the scholarship and never attend the courses or programmes while other Ghanaians who need a fraction of the amount at local universities are denied and waste away at home with all their skills and talents,” the GBA president lamented
He also condemned the practice of awarding scholarships in foreign currencies for courses that could easily be pursued at local universities.
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. Mr Boafo’s remarks add to the growing pressure on the government to overhaul the current scholarship system.
He also called for legislation that would regulate and streamline the distribution of scholarships, ensuring that the process is based on merit and need, not favoritism or wealth.
Despite these calls, the government has yet to take any meaningful action toward reform.
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