GETFund: I personally sponsor students - Deputy Agric Minister threatens to sue A-G

Deputy Minister for Agric and Member of Parliament(MP) for Akyem Swedru, Kennedy Osei Nyarko has threatened to sue the Auditor-General, Daniel Domelovo over the publication of his name as a beneficiary of the GET fund scholarship.

According to the Lawmaker, he has never taken any scholarship or never been a beneficiary of any scholarship scheme.

Speaking on Okay FM’s 'Ade Akye Abia' programme, he explained that the Auditor-General must have done due diligence before releasing the said beneficiary list.

He stated that he started paying for his foreign school fees way back in 2000 and since then he has have never been a beneficiary of any scholarship scheme.

“If I can personally sponsor other peoples' wards both locally and abroad to further their education from my own personal resources how much more will it be difficult to sponsor my own education.

"This is a big gaffe coming from the Auditor-General,” he lashed out.

"I have instructed my lawyers to write to the Auditor-General to come clean on my name else we are going to court," he added.

A performance audit report has listed a number of high-ranking government officials including the Minister of State in Charge of Procurement, Sarah Adwoa Safo who applied and obtained $12,800 in allowances with $17,004 in tuition fees to study at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Another person captured in the list is the Executive Secretary of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA), Prince Hamidu Armah also receiving £38,400 for living expense in addition to £33,000 for tuition fees, While Education Minister Mathew Opoku Prempeh, also received $12,800 for living expenses and $11,200 as tuition fees to study at Harvard University.

The Auditor-General intends to surcharge persons involved in scholarship awards and also disallow expenditure items of the GETFund Secretariat, in accordance with Article 187(7) (b) of its mandate.

This follows recommendations by the Auditor-General after faulting the GETFund for not being fair in the award of scholarships to those in need.

The Auditor-General has also accused the secretariat of not instituting a robust selection process, leading to the haphazard granting of scholarships to Ghanaians, to the detriment of those who really need them.

As part of the recommendations, the report said: "The Auditor-General may disallow the expenditures by GETFund Secretariat in the management of foreign scholarships which he deems were contrary to law and surcharge the persons involved.”