The Member of Parliament (MP) for Akatsi North Constituency in the Volta region, Peter Nortsu-Kotoe is calling on government to amend the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) law to cease lawmakers and other well to do individuals from benefiting from the scholarship scheme.
“I am not surprised . . . I blame all that has happened on the law which I have on several times asked that the law must be amended, because it has given too much room,” he said in an interview with NEAT FM’s morning show ‘Ghana Montie’.
A performance audit report has listed a number of high-ranking government officials including the Minister of State in Charge of Procurement, Sarah Adwoa Safo who applied and obtained $12,800 in allowances with $17,004 in tuition fees to study at the Harvard Kennedy School.
Another person captured in the list is the Executive Secretary of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA), Prince Hamidu Armah also receiving £38,400 for living expense in addition to £33,000 for tuition fees, While Education Minister Mathew Opoku Prempeh, also received $12,800 for living expenses and $11,200 as tuition fees to study at Harvard University.
The Auditor-General intends to surcharge persons involved in scholarship awards and also disallow expenditure items of the GETFund Secretariat, in accordance with Article 187(7) (b) of its mandate.
This follows recommendations by the Auditor-General after faulting the GETFund for not being fair in the award of scholarships to those in need.
The Auditor-General has also accused the secretariat of not instituting a robust selection process, leading to the haphazard granting of scholarships to Ghanaians, to the detriment of those who really need them.
<<Print>>