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In response to the Fourth Estate’s report on scholarship awards, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has called for transparency and criticized what they see as selective reporting.
Richard Ahiagbah, the NPP’s director of communications, expressed concern over the report’s focus on a small number of beneficiaries, arguing that this could give the false impression that all scholarship recipients are connected to the NPP or the government.
Ahiagbah made this point on social media, pointing out that the Fourth Estate had access to data on 64,411 scholarship recipients between 2019 and 2020 but chose to report on only about 20 beneficiaries. Ahiagbah also questioned why the Fourth Estate did not request and review data from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) era, when 30,399 scholarships were awarded.
In order to dispel the impression of reporting bias, the NPP suggests that the Scholarship Secretariat disclose the identities of opposition party members, National Democratic Congress (NDC) affiliates, and officials who received government scholarships.
Ahiagbah did stress, nevertheless, that in order to solve the problems with scholarship distribution, system reform is essential.
He applauded the Scholarship Secretariat’s work since 2017, especially the decentralization of the application process, but he also suggested more changes to prevent some people from being eligible for scholarships.
“We must commend the Fourth Estate and ask that it continue to work towards informing Ghanaians devoid of political,” Ahiagbah said, acknowledging the role of the media in promoting transparency and accountability.
Read Richard Ahiagbah’s full post below:
The outrage following the Fourth Estate Report on some scholarship awards by the Scholarship Secretariat is understandable, but we must note the following:
1. The Scholarship Secretariat provided the Fourth Estate with 64,411 scholarship beneficiaries between 2019 and 2020. However, they chose to report on about 20 beneficiaries to create the false impression that all scholarship beneficiaries are people associated with the NPP or government. So, what about the other beneficiaries? Are they all associated with the government or NPP?
2. Between 2012 and 2016, the NDC was in power, and H.E. Mahama was Vice President and President. A total of 30,399 scholarships were issued; why didn’t the Fourth Estate request and examine that data set because NDC associates and functionaries or dependents benefited from state scholarships?
3. Perhaps the Scholarship Secretariat should be encouraged to provide the names of NDC associates and functionaries or dependents who benefited from government scholarships for public education since the Fourth Estate has decided to be selective. But that will not solve the problem. The solution rests in reforming the system to stipulate clear rules and standards to regulate access to the facility.
4. The Scholarship Secretariat has done commendable work since 2017 by decentralizing the application procedure to the districts that an independent committee manages. The district committees include the MP, representatives of the traditional authority, the DCE or MCE, the District Education rep, and the Scholarship Secretariat staff. Much work has been done to improve administration and access to scholarships; now, our conversation’s focus should be on further reforms in the application process to exclude some category of persons because the current regime does not expressly exclude anybody from applying for or benefiting from scholarships.
5. We must commend the Fourth Estate and ask that it continue to work towards informing Ghanaians devoid of political
6. Let’s vote for Bawumia to continue reforming and expanding the scholarship scheme to enhance the global competitiveness of our youth.
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com
