Ghana’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and Ireland, Sabah Zita Benson, has raised concerns over what she described as excessive government spending on scholarship beneficiaries and their families who travelled to the UK under the previous Akufo-Addo administration.
Speaking on TV3’s Ghana Tonight on Wednesday, August 12, Ms Benson said her office had reviewed documents involving several scholarship beneficiaries who travelled to the UK with their spouses and children, with the state allegedly covering a range of expenses.
State Paid for Accompanying Family Members
According to the High Commissioner, she had reviewed about three or four cases involving beneficiaries who received scholarships to study programmes such as Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Public Policy in the UK, despite similar programmes being available at universities in Ghana.
She alleged that some beneficiaries travelled with as many as five children and a spouse, with the government covering expenses associated with their travel.
“We paid for whole families to move in with their parents and their spouses to come and study Master’s Degree. It is insane,” she said.
Ms Benson said government-funded expenses included premium visa fees, air tickets, yellow fever cards and vaccinations for accompanying family members.
She further alleged that the government paid £8,160 for each family member who accompanied a scholarship beneficiary to the UK.
Concerns Over Choice of Courses
The High Commissioner questioned the justification for spending large sums of public money on programmes such as MBA and Public Policy which, she said, could be studied in Ghana.
She also claimed that beneficiaries and their families were issued premium visa services rather than ordinary visas.
According to Ms Benson, the UK Embassy charges approximately £500 for premium visa services, adding that the state also covered airfares and other travel-related expenses.
She said payment records reviewed by her office showed that travel agents were paid to facilitate the journeys.
“My eyes have seen the documents and the payments, I know the travel agents that was collecting these payments to buy tickets for them,” she said.
Calls for Recovery of Funds
Ms Benson called for the recovery of public funds from beneficiaries who allegedly failed to undertake the studies for which the scholarships were awarded.
She argued that such beneficiaries should be required to refund the money spent on their behalf, including visa-related expenses.
“Government should make them refund. They didn’t come and study, they didn’t get any scholarship, so government should make them refund everything including visa fees,” she said.
She also called for investigations into the circumstances surrounding the expenditure and suggested that anyone found responsible for causing financial loss to the state should face prosecution.
Links Expenditure to UK University Debt
The High Commissioner further linked the issue to Ghana’s outstanding financial obligations to universities in the United Kingdom.
She said the expenditure on scholarship beneficiaries and their families had compounded Ghana’s existing debt to UK universities, which she put at approximately £35 million.
Her comments come amid broader scrutiny of scholarship awards and expenditure under the previous administration, with questions being raised over the management of Ghana’s scholarship programme and the use of public funds.
