Youth Development and Empowerment Minister says Ghana has operated its scholarship system without any governing law since independence, a vacuum he insists must be corrected with urgency.

George Opare Addo, speaking on Joy News' PM Express, said the scholarship regime in Ghana has been chaotic and abused for far too long.

“We did not have a standard procedure for administering scholarships, and so it was about whom you know,” he said. “How scholarships have been administered was like selling tomatoes in the market.”

He explained that the new bill, which was drafted in response to revelations made in a Fourth Estate investigation, seeks to “cure” the irregularities exposed.

“What we’re seeking to cure were the issues, some of the issues that were raised by the Fourth Estate,” he said, noting that abuse of the system had become rampant.

Mr Opare Addo, who chaired the drafting committee alongside Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu, said the bill will eventually move the Scholarship Secretariat from his ministry to the Education Ministry, where it belongs.

“Technically, scholarships are educational issues,” he said.

Under the proposed changes, all government-funded scholarships will be managed by a centralised authority.

“GNPC is giving scholarships, GetFund is giving scholarships, and then the Scholarship Secretariat itself is also giving scholarships.

"We needed a scholarship regime where if GNPC and GetFund have funding, we put them into a scholarship fund and then let there be an authority to regulate.”

He questioned the propriety of agencies like GNPC managing scholarships independently.

“I don’t think it is even proper for a government agency like GNPC to be administering scholarships when there is a scholarship agency or an authority or executive that is mandated by law to run.”

One of the key features of the bill, he explained, is to cut back on funding students abroad for programs that are already offered in Ghana.

“So one of the things we are looking at is programs that can be or are being taught locally; the state must not spend money in sending students abroad, for instance, business administration,” he said.

Pressed further, he affirmed: “Not when the University of Ghana Business School is one of the best in the sub-region. We can fund you to go to the University of Ghana Business School, if that is the course you want to run.”

He said the bill currently contains a proposal that bars state-sponsored scholarships for foreign study in courses already available at local universities.

“What it means is that we have no hope, no confidence in our own institutions,” he said. “And if we cannot, as a government, support our institutions to build that kind of confidence… You ask yourself, are we serious at all?”

The minister, however, made room for Ghanaian private universities in the restructured scheme.

“Yes, I know some of the things Ashesi University is doing,” he said, adding that students could be funded to attend private local institutions where justified.

“Although Ashesi is not cheap, there are some programs that Ashesi is running that UG and KNUST are not running.”

He defended the approach, noting it would keep money within the local economy.

“Why should I send a student out of Ghana when Ashesi can do [it], when I can give the money to a Ghanaian entrepreneur, and the money is going to remain in Ghana?”

He also pointed to the impact on foreign exchange. “One of the challenges is our exchange rates.”