Former CEO of the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP), Kofi Ofosu Nkansah, has launched a blistering attack on the current head of the Ghana Scholarship Secretariat, Kwaku Asafo-Agyei, accusing him of incompetence and poor negotiation skills that have damaged Ghana’s longstanding goodwill with international academic institutions.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, 15th July, Mr Ofosu Nkansah lamented the current state of affairs under the Mahama administration, claiming that Ghanaian students on government scholarships abroad have effectively been reduced to “beggars” due to unpaid tuition and related fees.

His comments follow growing complaints from students, particularly those at the University of Memphis in the United States, who say they risk expulsion if they do not personally settle their outstanding bills.

“Unfortunately, the new scholarship boss is an inexperienced person who has messed up our goodwill with the schools abroad with his poor negotiation skills,” Mr Ofosu Nkansah wrote.

He further appealed to the Finance Minister to intervene, stating, “The Finance Minister must do the needful by paying these debts. The Akufo-Addo Government settled all the scholarship debts we inherited in 2017.”

The post has reignited public debate over the state of Ghana’s foreign scholarship programme and the government’s ability to meet its financial commitments to students studying overseas.

Many affected students have expressed fears over the possible cancellation of their academic programmes, with some reporting pressure to pay the fees themselves despite earlier assurances from the Scholarship Secretariat.