The registrar of the Scholarship Secretariat, Dr Kingsley Agyemang has called for swift legislation to streamline the distribution of scholarships in the country.

According to him, the current challenges faced by officers in making decisions stem from the absence of clear legislation defining who qualifies as a needy individual for the scholarships.

Dr Agyemang's remarks come in response to a recent publication by the Fourth Estate, which alleged that scholarships are unfairly distributed to well-connected affluent individuals in the country.

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In a yet-to-be-aired interview on JoyNews, Dr Agyemang emphasised the necessity of scholarship legislation to dispel any misconceptions about eligibility criteria.

“I think a scholarship legislation is so eminent and that will set out everything that we need to do or how the funds need to be managed. 

“It's been managed over the years by the dexterity of leaders. What I think is so important - so in conjunction with maybe National Development Planning Commission and DPC to really identify priority areas that as Ghanaians, we need to.”

He pointed out the lack of an Establishment Act for the scholarship secretariat, which has been an ongoing issue requiring public discussion.

Dr Agyemang also addressed questions about why some individuals are given scholarships to train abroad when similar courses are available in the country, stating that such concerns oversimplify the situation.

He questioned whether those referred to as middle-income earners, such as public sector workers, are middle-income earners in line with best practices or economic conditions.

The registrar of the Scholarship Secretariat emphasised that even civil servants fall within the category of people who genuinely need scholarship support, saying “Every Ghanaian except the high earners is a needy person."