Ghana’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Sabah Zita Benson, has accused the previous administration of mismanaging government scholarship funds, alleging that lavish spending on beneficiaries’ dependants left the state with millions of pounds in unpaid fees and allowances.
Ms Benson said the expenditure included payments for spouses and children who accompanied scholarship recipients to the UK, with government funds allegedly used for their allowances, airfares and other expenses.
In a series of Facebook posts, the High Commissioner described some of the spending as “reckless” and questioned why public funds were used to support dependants when scholarship beneficiaries themselves were facing unpaid tuition and living allowances.
She cited one case involving a scholarship beneficiary whose spouse and three children each reportedly received £8,160, separate from the scholarship awarded to the student. The family’s airfare alone, she said, cost about GH¢90,000.
“The spouse and children were paid £8,160 each to accompany the wife and mother to go study. That is different from the scholarship amount to the beneficiary. Why?… We have hundreds of such cases,” she wrote.
According to Ms Benson, such expenditure placed additional pressure on funds that could otherwise have been used to meet outstanding obligations to Ghanaian students studying in the UK.
She alleged that tuition fees and stipends amounting to more than £37 million accumulated between 2020 and 2025.
The High Commissioner also raised questions over the award of a government scholarship to a 16-year-old student to attend a private secondary school in the UK, saying the reported cost exceeded £56,000.
In another example, she alleged that GH¢90,420 was spent on visa fees, tuberculosis screening and airfare for two students and the spouse of one of the beneficiaries.
Her comments come as some Ghanaian scholarship students in the UK prepare to protest over delays in the payment of their fees and stipends.
Ms Benson maintained that the current government inherited significant financial obligations from the previous administration and said efforts were underway to address the arrears.
“Those who want to come and protest tomorrow because Government hasn’t paid your fees, you now know where your money went. You should have protested from 2020–2025 when they were not paying,” she stated.
She said the government paid £3 million towards the outstanding arrears last year and had completed first-quarter payments this year.
According to the High Commissioner, second-quarter payments are also being processed, with the government working to clear the remaining debts.
Ms Benson said the administration’s approach was not only focused on settling the outstanding obligations but also on ensuring greater accountability in the management of scholarship funds.
