The Member of Parliament for Odododiodio constituency, Edwin Nii Lante Vanderpuye, has criticized Members of Parliament who accessed the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETfund) scholarship.

According to him, there are a lot of privileges for Members of Parliament, hence there is no justification for them to have sought for a scholarship from GETfund.

Contributing to a panel discussion on Peace FM morning show ‘Kokrokoo’, Nii Lante said: “after all these privileges, you still want to go for the one that has been set aside for the needy. If you need help in your education, apply through parliament. This abuse is worrying…GETfund was not set for people in privileged positions."

Background

A performance audit report has listed a number of high-ranking government officials including the Minister of State in Charge of Procurement, Sarah Adwoa Safo who applied and obtained $12,800 in allowances with $17,004 in tuition fees to study at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Another person captured in the list is the Executive Secretary of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA), Prince Hamidu Armah also receiving £38,400 for living expense in addition to £33,000 for tuition fees, While Education Minister Mathew Opoku Prempeh, also received $12,800 for living expenses and $11,200 as tuition fees to study at Harvard University.

The Auditor-General intends to surcharge persons involved in scholarship awards and also disallow expenditure items of the GETFund Secretariat, in accordance with Article 187(7) (b) of its mandate.

This follows recommendations by the Auditor-General after faulting the GETFund for not being fair in the award of scholarships to those in need.