A supposed beneficiary of the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) scholarship as named in the Auditor-General’s performance audit report, Ramana Shareef, is demanding answers from the GETFund as to her inclusion in the list of beneficiaries.
In a letter written by her lawyer, Samson Lardy Anyenini, dated 25th February, 2020 and addressed to the Fund Administrator, Ramana Shareef said she applied for and was awarded the scholarship seven years ago to the University of Reading for an MSc in Communication for Innovation and Development.
The payment was however delayed, “compelling her to defer the program twice”, which she eventually lost out on.
“She would be unable to acquire a UK visa and thus abandoned the pursuit because GETFund did not pay the fees, and Reading’s rules will not admit deferment a third time as she sought,” the letter read.
Ramana Shareef said she is “therefore curious to have been named as having had her fees and living allowance totalling £22,730.00 paid by GETFund”.
She said the GETFund Administrator’s responses to her queries is to inform her next line of action.
Click here to read the full letter.
Background
The Auditor-General indicted the GETFund for breaching its mandate and “illegally” funding foreign scholarships.
A performance audit report from the Auditor-General said the GETFund Secretariat “breached the object of the fund and administered the scholarship themselves.”
According to the GETFund’s Annual Reports from 2012 to 2018, the secretariat spent GHS 425,698,937 on scholarships on 3,112 beneficiaries out of which 2,217 persons were unlawfully granted scholarships to study abroad.
It also said GETFund’s selection process was not robust enough, describing it as “unfair, dominated by one person and porous.”
“This allowed unqualified applicants to benefit rather than brilliant but needy Ghanaians as contemplated by Act 581,” the report stated.
Some politicians were also listed as beneficiaries of GETFund scholarships.
The report noted that the current Education Minister, Matthew Opoku Prempeh and the current Procurement Minister and Deputy Majority Leader in Parliament, Sarah Adwoa Safo benefitted from the scheme in the past.
This was however before they became government appointees.
The Procurement Minister is listed as having studied at the Harvard Kennedy School, benefiting from US$12,800 in allowances with US$17,004 in tuition fees.
Education Minister, Dr. Opoku Prempeh is noted to have participated in a course on National and International Security at Harvard University, where he received US$12,800 for living expenses and US$11,200 as tuition fees.