The previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration engaged in the “forward sale” of scholarships after anticipating defeat in Ghana’s 2024 election, National Democratic Congress (NDC) communications team member Roger TD Wills has claimed.
Mr Wills alleged that scholarships intended for needy but brilliant students were sold to the highest bidders under the former administration.
He said the current NDC government was taking the correct steps by introducing reforms at the Scholarship Secretariat, while calling for an investigation into how scholarship allocations were handled.
Speaking on 3FM’s Sunrise programme, the aspiring Deputy Communications Officer of the NDC said scholarships should support students who would contribute to Ghana’s human capital, including those seeking careers in academia.
“Scholarships for needy but brilliant students or people who want to go into academia or lectures and will add to human capital development
“Because they were selling scholarships and they knew they were going into opposition, they had to sell more in advance; they sold into the future. …because of their moribund, mundane, ill-minded mentality, they sold scholarships into the future, forward sales of scholarships. The BNI should call them to come and answer questions.”
Mr Wills’s comments come as Ghana’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and Ireland, Sabah Zita Benson, confirmed that the High Commission had received more than £300,000 in its second-quarter allocation from the Scholarship Secretariat.
Ms Benson said the funds were being released in stages as the government worked to clear scholarship-related debts inherited by the current administration.
Speaking on TV3’s Ghana Tonight on Wednesday, 12 August 2026, she said the first-quarter allocation had been received and distributed in May after the necessary administrative procedures were completed.
“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.
The High Commissioner said the outstanding debt inherited by the mission was estimated at between £35 million and £37 million. She stressed that the money was public funding and therefore had to be properly budgeted for and approved by Parliament.
“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.
Ms Benson also clarified that her responsibility was to distribute scholarship funds received by the High Commission, rather than award scholarships to students.
“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.
She added that approximately £3 million had been paid towards the inherited debt during the previous year, with further payments 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 funding issues have affected Ghanaian students studying undergraduate, master’s and doctoral programmes in the UK through the Ghana Scholarship Authority (GSA).
On 30 July 2026, the students protested over lengthy delays in receiving tuition-fee payments and living stipends. They said months of unpaid support had left many facing the possibility of being withdrawn from their institutions and, in some cases, deported.
The latest second-quarter payment is expected to allow the High Commission to settle some outstanding fees and stipends, easing the pressure on affected students.
