Alex Kwaku Asafo-Agyei, the current Registrar of the Ghana Scholarship Secretariat, has exposed irregularities in the awarding of scholarships under the former Akufo-Addo government.
The Registrar of the Ghana Scholarship Secretariat highlighted that an audit of scholarships awarded under the leadership of the former registrar, Dr Kingsley Agyemang, revealed a worrying outcome.
Speaking in a recent interview shared by Kumasi-based Nhyira FM on X, on September 8, 2025, the host read portions of a sponsorship letter signed by the former registrar.
“We confirm that Peter Mensah has been awarded a financial scholarship by the Ghana Scholarship Secretariat to study LLM Law at Brunel University, London, United Kingdom, which commenced in January 2022. The scholarship covers Mensah and his dependent listed above, and it includes all student tuition fees of £17,875 and living expenses of £16,008 per annum. It also covers his dependent and spouse, Gifty Afia Oware-Mensah’s living expenses of £8,160”.
Alex Asafo-Agyei detailed, “The Peter Mensah mentioned is the husband of the very Gifty Oware we all know as the former Deputy Director General of the National Service Authority.
By the mere fact that Peter Mensah was awarded a government scholarship at Brunel, the Scholarship Secretariat used government money, which is £8,160, to also sponsor his wife because Peter Mensah is traveling to study, and his wife, Gifty Oware, has to travel with him to keep him warm. How?” he questioned.
He added, “Even her ticket to travel with her husband was paid for by the Scholarship Secretariat. What crime has the Scholarship Secretariat committed? While we have actual students whose tuitions and stipends are yet to be paid amidst their threats of demonstration, we have sponsored somebody and their entire family as if we are conducting an American lottery program”.
Ghana Scholarship Secretariat described the case of Gifty Oware and her husband as the tip of the iceberg.
Another sponsorship letter read by the registrar stated, “We confirm that Portia Adu Donyina has been awarded a financial scholarship by the Ghana Scholarship Secretariat to study Public Health and Community Studies at Coventry University, UK. The scholarship commenced in February 2021 and ends in February 2022.
The scholarship covers Portia Adu Donyina and her dependents listed above, including all tuition fees of £15,100 and living expenses of £12,180. It also covers her dependents: Joseph Dwamena (spouse), living expenses of £7,605 per annum, and £6,120 per annum each for Nana Yaa Nhyira Dwamena (daughter) and Awurabena Kwakyewaa Dwamena (daughter)”.
Meanwhile, George Opare Addo, the Youth Development and Empowerment Minister, has said Ghana’s scholarships were administered like selling tomatoes in the market.
According to George Opare Addo, based on the investigation conducted by the Fourth Estate, scholarships in Ghana were administered like selling tomatoes.
Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express, George Opare Addo detailed, “For instance, we did not have a standard procedure for administering scholarships, and so it was about whom you know,” he said.
“So the state will have to look for very smart, young, dedicated students and then sponsor their education so that they can go and come back or get training and then come and help fix the problem.”
He added, “From where I sit, while growing up, I knew that scholarships are for brilliant but needy students, people who could not afford or if the state had the need to address a certain challenge.”
“How scholarships have been administered was like selling tomatoes in the market. People go and then say, ‘Ah, let me pay ¢10 or ¢20,’ based on the investigations that the Fourth Estate did. So we wanted to address that challenge.”
In another scandal, Gifty Oware-Mensah, the former Deputy Executive Director of the National Service Authority (NSS), has been exposed for shockingly using NSS allowances as collateral.
According to Dr. Dominic Ayine, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Gifty Oware-Mensah used the NSS allowances as collateral to secure a GH¢30 million ADB loan.
The AG explained, “Gifty Oware-Mensah created and executed a meticulously detailed plan using National Service allowances as security to obtain a loan of GH¢30,698,218 from the ADB”.
“She achieved this by using other people’s information to register a company called Blocks of Life Consult without their knowledge”.
“She presented Blocks of Life Consult through a middleman and used her husband to act as one of the representatives of the said company. She told ADB that the company specialises in supplying home appliances to NSS personnel and proposed that ADB finance the company to enable it to supply these items on a higher purchase basis to the service personnel,” he added.
Additionally, Dr Dominic Ayine has stated that twelve suspects will be charged in the National Service scandal.
According to the Attorney General, former Executive Director of the National Service Scheme, Mustapha Ussif, former Executive Director of the National Service Authority (NSA), Osei Assibey Antwi and former Deputy Director in charge of Finance and Administration, Gifty Oware-Mensah.
He revealed that the former National Service Authority (NSA) ran a criminal enterprise which siphoned huge sums of public funds, including over GHC548 million.
See the post below:
Scholarship Secretariat: Gifty Oware received £8,000 in spousal allowance, while her husband received £16,000 in allowance, along with full fees and air tickets for the family. pic.twitter.com/0j350dblKd
— Ghana Chronicles (@_GhChronicles) September 10, 2025