Martin Kpebu, a legal expert, urges the government to tighten laws governing public scholarships amid concerns of misallocation. He emphasizes the need for clear regulations to ensure fair distribution and suggests penalties for administrators who fail to comply.
“It’s been well articulated by various government appointees, ministers of education, etcetera that government policy is to give scholarships to brilliant but needy students. So that is what it is. But it appears that looking at what we have now, it will make sense to expand, and have more regulations on it.
“So things like, if we were to find out that the scholarship secretariat gives out scholarships to people who don’t meet their criteria, the chief executive will be sacked, You know, things that make it more biting.
“But so far, what we are learning is that we need a more expansive act that will have direct consequences for the chief executive. If you do this, you are out of the door. I think with that, it will be more biting because for Kingsley Agyemang to say that no, for him, all he’s aware of is that he should be a Ghanaian and have a recommendation. That tells you a lot of what is going on,” he stated.
Martin Kpebu urged MPs to introduce a bill for amending Scholarship Secretariat regulations, aiming for greater robustness.
“Private Members can start because the government often doesn’t act fast when it deals with matters that don’t directly bring votes. At least when the MPs start from the private member’s bill later the government can join but at least the conversation can continue,” he added.
Credit: CitiNewsroom
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