Osman Abdulai Ayariga, the Deputy National Youth Organiser of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has called on the Special Prosecutor to probe all instances of suspected corruption and related offences revealed by The Fourth Estate’s recent investigation into the Scholarship Secretariat’s awarding of scholarships.
The Fourth Estate’s investigation found that scholarships were granted to influential individuals, as well as the children, relatives, and associates of powerful figures.
This contradicts the Scholarship Secretariat’s main objective of offering local and foreign scholarships to academically talented but financially disadvantaged students.
The Fourth Estate was initially denied access to the list of beneficiaries by the Scholarship Secretariat in March 2021. However, they persisted and appealed to the Right to Information (RTI) Commission.
The RTI Commission ruled in favour of disclosure, stating that transparency is crucial since the scholarships are funded with public money. It was stipulated, however, that personal information must be redacted before the data is released.
The Scholarship Secretariat’s response to the RTI request revealed that it had spent GHS237.5 million and GHS200 million in 2019 and 2020, respectively, on both foreign and local scholarships.
In a statement released on Tuesday, Mr Ayariga expressed, “It has become necessary to petition your office due to the despicable magnitude of abuse the Scholarship secretariat under the current leadership has exhibited. I am therefore by this petition calling for a full-scale investigation into the activities of the Registrar and associated staff of the secretariat regarding the award of scholarships.”
He emphasised the urgency of investigating these matters to prevent any future misappropriation of resources. “I hereby request that the Registrar be subjected to investigations and be made to step aside pending the outcome of the investigations to prevent interference with the investigative process.”
“I am counting on your ability to carry out a thorough investigation into the grounds stated above and accordingly inform the Ghanaian people of the outcome of the investigations,” he stated.
Myjoyonline.com
DOWNLOAD: PETITION-TO-SPECIAL-PROSECUTOR-BY-OSMAN-AYARIGA
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