Youth Development and Empowerment Minister, George Opare Addo, has likened Ghana’s long-standing scholarship system to a chaotic marketplace, saying it was run without structure, standards, or fairness.
Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express, Opare Addo revealed that a committee he co-chaired with former Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu uncovered serious flaws in the way scholarships were awarded.
“The committee I chaired, with Haruna Iddrisu as co-chair, set out to fix the chaos. We did not have a standard procedure for administering scholarships — it was about whom you know,” he said.
Opare Addo was blunt in his assessment, referencing a detailed investigation by The Fourth Estate that revealed how informal and inconsistent the process had become.
“How scholarships were administered was like selling tomatoes in the market. People would go and say, ‘Ah, let me pay ¢10 or ¢20,’ based on the investigations The Fourth Estate conducted.”
According to the minister, one of the key recommendations is the establishment of a unified and transparent scholarship regime. He suggested that state-run funds like GNPC and GETFund should channel their resources into a central pool.
“We need a scholarship regime where, if GNPC and GETFund have funding, it is pooled into one scholarship fund, and managed by a central authority.”
Opare Addo also emphasized the lack of a clear legal framework for scholarships since independence, saying that for the first time, a bill is before Parliament to address this gap.
“Ever since Ghana gained independence, we’ve had no proper scholarship law. There was no legislation guiding how scholarships should be administered,” he noted.
He added that the new bill aims to introduce transparency and predictability into the process.
“So that when I’m applying for a scholarship, I know the criteria, I know what I must meet, and how I should apply.”
