- Ghana’s Scholarships Secretariat is accused of funding travel, visa fees, and stipends for dependents of scholarship recipients.
- Registrar Alex Asafo-Agyei revealed that families were sponsored under the previous administration.
- One case involved Peter Mensah, whose wife received £8,160 annually in addition to his scholarship package.
- Civil society groups are demanding reforms to ensure fairness and accountability.
- The Secretariat’s current leadership has promised investigations and corrective action.
The Ghana Scholarships Secretariat is under renewed scrutiny following revelations that scholarship funds were used not only to support students studying abroad, but also to cover travel, visa fees, and annual stipends for their spouses and children.
Registrar Alex Kwaku Asafo-Agyei has disclosed that under the leadership of former Registrar Dr. Kingsley Agyemang, the Secretariat approved payments that extended far beyond tuition and student living costs. In some cases, entire families were sponsored — with official memos authorizing airfare, visa processing, and yearly allowances for dependents.
One of the most striking examples involves Peter Mensah, who received a scholarship to pursue an LLM in Law at Brunel University in London in 2022. The package included £17,875 for tuition, £16,008 for his personal living expenses, and an additional £8,160 annually for his wife, Gifty Oware Mensah, a former Deputy Director of the National Service Scheme.
The revelations have sparked outrage among civil society groups, many of whom have long called for reforms to ensure scholarships are awarded based on merit and financial need — not political connections or privilege. Critics argue that while deserving students struggle to access basic funding, others have benefited from what appears to be a misuse of public resources.
The Secretariat’s current leadership has pledged to investigate past practices and restore transparency to the system. But for many observers, the damage to public trust has already been done.
