Next NDC govt will strictly adhere to guidelines for granting scholarships – Mahama

The Flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress(NDC), John Mahama has criticized the abuse of government scholarship by politicians.

This comes in the wake of the exposé by the Fourth Estate revealing how politically exposed individuals have been awarded scholarships meant for underprivileged Ghanaians.

Speaking at a public lecture at Wisconsin International University, the former President assured the NDC government will adhere to strict implementation and guidelines for granting scholarships in the country.

"From Prof. Mills' time till when I was in office, we skewed a lot of the scholarship to students who were going to learn about petroleum sector, oil management, oil sector law and so on and so forth. There are many students who got those scholarships and are back here in Ghana and working. And so we must draw the lines, we must have a minister like Naana Jane Opoku Agyemang who will make sure that the scholarships we are giving are scholarships that are relevant to the human resource development of this country," he said.

He added: “The scholarships must go to underprivileged people, young people who come from backgrounds which do not have the capacity to sponsor them. The social construct of the person’s origin should be taken into consideration before a scholarship is given. There are many of us who can afford to pay the fees of our children if we decide that they should go to university abroad and so we have no business going to the Scholarship Secretariat and asking for scholarships for our children.

"...And so we will have a person superintending over the Scholarship Secretariat that will make sure that the guidelines are implemented and that those getting the scholarship are deserving of those scholarships.”