Ghana’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and Ireland, Sabah Zita Benson, has confirmed that the mission has received more than £300,000 in second-quarter funding from the Scholarship Secretariat to help address unpaid scholarship costs.
The latest payment is part of a gradual process to settle scholarship-related debts inherited by the current administration. Ms Benson said the first-quarter allocation was received and distributed in May, after the necessary administrative procedures had been completed.
Speaking on TV3’s Ghana Tonight on Wednesday, 12 August 2026, she said the second-quarter funds had now reached the mission.
“We disbursed somewhere late May for the first quarter and I can confirm that we have received second quarter disbursement.
“What we received for the second quarter is about £300,000 plus,” she said.
Ms Benson said the total outstanding debt inherited by the mission was estimated to be between £35m and £37m. She stressed that the money was public funding and could therefore only be released through the appropriate budgeting and parliamentary approval processes.
The High Commissioner explained that the amount currently being paid was determined by the budget approved for the year and subsequently released to the mission by the Scholarship Secretariat.
“So, we are doing it bit by bit because the debt that we came to meet is between £35 million and £37 million and you know that this is government money. Everything has to be budgeted and sent to Parliament for approval.
“So, the budget that was approved this year is what the Scholarship Secretariat is disbursing to us,” she added.
She also clarified that her responsibilities did not include selecting scholarship recipients or awarding scholarships. Her role, she said, was to ensure that funds received by the mission were distributed for their intended purpose.
“I am just someone who disburses the money, I don’t give scholarships. The only thing I do is when the money hit our accounts, I have to make sure the money is disbursed accordingly,” she said.
According to Ms Benson, the mission paid about £3m towards the outstanding liability last year, with further repayments beginning in 2026.
“As of last year, we paid £3 million out of the £35 million pounds and this year, we have started paying some of these debts,” she said.
The development follows a protest by Ghanaian students in the United Kingdom on 30 July 2026. Students enrolled on undergraduate, master’s and doctoral programmes through the Ghana Scholarship Authority (GSA) demonstrated over lengthy delays in receiving tuition-fee payments and living stipends.
They said months of unpaid fees and allowances had created serious difficulties, with some students warning that they could be withdrawn by their institutions and potentially face deportation.
The latest disbursement is expected to allow the Ghana High Commission to make payments towards some of the outstanding tuition fees and stipends, easing the financial pressure on affected students. However, the wider debt remains between £35m and £37m, with the mission continuing to receive funds according to the approved annual budget.
