Giusepina Baafi, a former beauty queen who won the coveted Miss Ghana pageant in 2013, recently came under scrutiny for receiving a scholarship of €18,500 to study for her Master’s at the Schellhammer Business School in Spain.
This revelation came after a list of scholarship beneficiaries was obtained through a Right to Information request by The Fourth Estate.
The investigation also uncovered other beneficiaries of multiple scholarships, including Sidney Osei-Owusu, Kieve Kuuku Kittoe, and Abednego Mathias Bonir. Osei-Owusu received a total of £44,080 for his MSc in Management and MBA degrees in the UK, while Kittoe was granted US$ 52,975 for two MA programs in the United States and the UK.
Bonir, on the other hand, received a staggering total of GHS807,192 for post-graduate certificates in Project Management and Human Resource Management in Canada. The Scholarship Secretariat funded his tuition fees and provided a monthly stipend, amounting to GHS19,700, which could have covered the full tuition fees for similar programs in Ghana.
The Fourth Estate’s analysis of the scholarship data also revealed a concerning trend of scholarship funds being directed towards influential individuals, children, relatives, and associates of powerful figures, rather than prioritizing underprivileged but deserving students. In 2019-2020, the Scholarship Secretariat spent substantial amounts on individuals connected to the political and social elite, drawing criticism for inequitable distribution of funds.
For more detailed information on the beneficiaries and expenditures of the government of Ghana scholarships in 2019 and 2020, The Fourth Estate has provided a comprehensive list. The data disclosed significant amounts disbursed by the Secretariat, signaling potential irregularities in the allocation of scholarship funds.
As the scholarship scandal continues to unravel, social commentary on the mismanagement of funds and preferential treatment of certain individuals over others has sparked outrage among Ghanaians. The need for transparency and accountability in the scholarship system has become a pressing concern, prompting calls for reform and oversight to prevent further abuse of public resources.
