GETFund Is Best To Address Your Grievance - A-G Responds To Swedru MP Over Scholarship

Auditor-General, Daniel Yaw Domelovo has responded to a letter from Lawyers of Member of Parliament(MP) for Akim Swedru, Kennedy Osei Nyarko over the publication of his name as a beneficiary of the GET fund scholarship. 

The letter requested the Auditor-General to with immediate effect retract and render an unqualified public apology to the Member of Parliament.

According to the Lawmaker, he has never taken any scholarship or never been a beneficiary of any scholarship scheme.

In the Auditor-General's response, he said his office, in consonant with article (187)2 of the 1992 Constitution and Sections 13 (c) and 16 of the Audit Service Act, 2000 (Act 584). undertook a special audit at the GETFund office spanning the period 2012 to 2018 and submitted a copy of the audit report to parliament as mandated by law.

He clarified that the report is from the audited entity, and in this instance, every information or names that is contained in the performance audit report on GETFund came from GETFund, the audited entity.

"Certainly, my office has no malice or bias toward any individual named as beneficiary from GETFund in our audit report.
Your grievance, therefore, is best addressed by GETFund who provided the audit team with the necessary information and names of beneficiaries during the audit," Mr. Domelovo stated in his response.

Deputy Agric Minister Threatens To Sue A-G

The Deputy Minister for Agric and Member of Parliament(MP) for Akim Swedru, Kennedy Osei Nyarko has threatened to sue the Auditor-General, Daniel Domelovo over the publication of his name as a beneficiary of the GET fund scholarship.

Speaking on Okay FM’s 'Ade Akye Abia' programme, he explained that the Auditor-General must have done due diligence before releasing the said beneficiary list.

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.