The Africa Education Watch, a prominent education policy research and advocacy organisation, is urging the government to promptly establish a Scholarships Commission through parliamentary legislation to oversee all public scholarships.

Highlighting concerns regarding nepotism, political influence, and inefficient allocation of resources in public scholarship awards, Africa Education Watch emphasised the necessity of this regulatory body.

The organisation argued that without such oversight, deserving but financially disadvantaged Ghanaian students will continue to face disparities, while well-connected individuals benefit disproportionately.

In a press release issued on Tuesday, April 9, Africa Education Watch underscored the importance of banning any public entity or corporation from implementing separate scholarship programs once the Commission is in place.

Furthermore, the organisation also advocated for transparency by mandating the Commission to disclose applicant and beneficiary information to the public.

"The Government of Ghana, through an Act of Parliament, must establish a Scholarship Commission under the Ministry of Education to regulate the management of all public scholarships, including public-corporate scholarship schemes in Ghana," an excerpt of their release stated.

Their demand follows a recent exposé by the Fourth Estate, which revealed disparities in the allocation of scholarships, favouring affluent individuals with connections.

In response to the scandalous expose by the Fourth Estate regarding the arbitrary and biased awarding of scholarships by the Ghana Scholarship Secretariat, the Minority in Parliament is demanding the immediate suspension of Dr. Kingsley Agyemang.

The NDC MPs asserted that the investigation findings corroborated by concerned Ghanaians, both domestically and internationally, warrant decisive action.

• Read also: Minority demands immediate interdiction of Registrar of Scholarships Secretariat

They contend that such practices are unfair to deserving Ghanaian students who depend on the Secretariat for assistance.

Meanwhile, Dr. Kingsley Agyemang, the Registrar of the Scholarship Secretariat, has underscored the immediate requirement for legislation to govern scholarship distribution.

Dr. Agyemang highlighted the challenges officials face in determining eligibility due to the lack of clear legislative guidelines defining criteria for identifying needy individuals.

He emphasised the importance of scholarship legislation to establish transparent eligibility standards and eliminate ambiguity in the allocation process.

Read also: We need scholarship legislation to dispel eligibility misconceptions – Registrar, Scholarship Secretariat

“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.”