The Deputy National Youth Organiser of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Osman Ayariga, has petitioned the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) to investigate the Scholarship Secretariat over alleged corruption and corruption-related offences following the recent scandal involving the awarding of scholarships.
This follows various reports of arbitrary and biased awarding of scholarships by the secretariat.
Mr Ayariga is urging the OSP to conduct a comprehensive inquiry into the activities of the Registrar and other secretariat staff members regarding the scholarship allocation process and apply sanctions where officials have broken the rules.
In his formal petition submitted to the OSP on Tuesday, April 9, Mr Ayariga emphasised the urgency of the investigation to ensure that scholarships are awarded fairly to deserving Ghanaian students rather than individuals with political connections or affluence.
“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,” the petition stated.
He emphasised the need for the OSP to swiftly conduct this investigation without delay to prevent any further 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,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Minority in Parliament has demanded for the immediate suspension of the Registrar of the Scholarship Secretariat Dr. Kingsley Agyemang.
The NDC MPs asserted that the findings corroborated by concerned Ghanaians, both in Ghana and abroad, warrant decisive action.
They contend that such practices were unfair to deserving Ghanaian students who depend on the secretariat for assistance.
Meanwhile, Dr. Kingsley Agyemang has indicated the need for legislation to govern scholarship distribution.
He highlighted the challenges officials faced in determining eligibility due to the lack of clear legislative guidelines defining criteria for identifying needy individuals.
Read the full petition to the special prosecutor: