The General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia has revealed his son once benefited from the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) scholarship scheme.
Asked whether his son qualified to be classified as ‘brilliant’ but-needy’, Mr. Nketia responded in the affirmative, saying at the time, he had retired from Parliament for many years and couldn’t foot his son’s tuition fees and related expenses.
General Mosquito who was speaking on Adom FM’s Dwaso Nsem morning show said his son qualified to be in the ‘needy’ category because of his retirement days.
“When I left Parliament some years back and had retired, I applied for a scholarship for my son from GETFund. My son was awarded the scholarship to study Risk Management outside the country because institutions of higher learning in Ghana were not offering that course,” he said.
“But my son is now done studying and has secured another scholarship by the Chinese government and is currently in China reading his PhD,” he added.
Background
A performance audit report by the Auditor-General listed a number of high-ranking government officialsincluding 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, who also received £38,400 for living expenses in addition to £33,000 for tuition fees.
Minister for Education, Mathew Opoku Prempeh, who is listed as the 38th person to benefit from the scholarships received $12,800 for living expenses and $11,200 as tuition fees to study a National and International Security in Harvard University.
The revelation has brought about a heated debate on social media, with many Ghanaians arguing that politicians and government officials do not fall under the needy category clearly stated in the GETFund Act.
