Ghana’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Sabah Zita Benson, has alleged that widespread mismanagement of government scholarship funds under the previous administration contributed to millions of pounds in unpaid tuition fees and living allowances owed to Ghanaian students studying in the UK.
In a series of posts on Facebook, Benson claimed that excessive spending on spouses and children accompanying scholarship beneficiaries abroad placed a significant financial burden on the scholarship programme and contributed to the accumulation of arrears between 2020 and 2025.
According to her, some beneficiaries received additional financial support for their dependants, including allowances, airfare and other benefits, despite the government struggling to meet its obligations to students.
In one example, she alleged that the spouse and three children of a scholarship recipient each received £8,160 to accompany the beneficiary to the United Kingdom, separate from the scholarship awarded to the student. She also claimed that the family’s airfare cost the government 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,” Benson wrote.
The High Commissioner argued that funds used to support dependants could instead have been used to pay tuition fees and living allowances for scholarship beneficiaries.
She further alleged that more than £37 million in unpaid tuition fees and stipends accumulated between 2020 and 2025. Benson also questioned the award of a government scholarship to a 16-year-old to attend a private secondary school in the United Kingdom at a reported cost of more than £56,000.
In another example, she claimed the government spent GH¢90,420 on visa fees, tuberculosis screening and airfare for two students and the spouse of one scholarship beneficiary.
Her comments come ahead of a planned protest by some Ghanaian scholarship students in the United Kingdom over delays in the payment of tuition fees and stipends.
Responding to the planned demonstration, Benson maintained that the current administration inherited significant financial obligations from the previous government.
“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.
The High Commissioner added that the government paid £3 million towards the outstanding arrears last year, has settled first-quarter payments for this year and is processing second-quarter payments.
She insisted that the current administration remains committed to clearing the outstanding debts while strengthening accountability and oversight in the management of government scholarship funds.
