You continued to receive scholarship even as Minister - Ras Mubarak tackles NAPO

Following a denial by Minister of Education Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh that he has not been granted any scholarship from the Ghana Education Trust Fund ( GETfund) Scholarships, Member of Parliament (MP) for Kumbungu Ras Mubarak has alleged that even as Minister, Dr Opoku Prempeh received a scholarship from the National Service Scheme(NSS) for a programme at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston, USA.

“A big fat lie from the Minister of Education on his denial that he’s never received scholarship since he assumed office as minister, and I challenge him. He was sponsored by the National Service Secretariat for a program at MIT Uni in Boston in his capacity as Minister for Education,” he lashed out.

According to Ras Mubarak, the Minister was part of some NSS staff who expended some $300, 000 on a one-week programme at MIT.

“He and some NSS staff spent $300.000 USD or 1.3million cedis then, of tax payers’ money for a one week program in the US. I know this for a fact because I had exposed him on the floor of Parliament,” he added.

Ras Mubarak maintains that as a sitting Member of Parliament in 2014, he had no moral right to receive the GETfund Scholarship for a programme at Harvard, stressing that his action is merely face-saving.

“On this GetFund issue, It ain’t right for him, as sitting opposition MP then, to receive scholarship meant for brilliant but needy students. The face saving attempt at distancing himself from this disgraceful conduct of a greedy privileged few, who have no mercy on needy students is pathetic,” he pointed out.

Dr Opoku Prempeh is part of a long list of influential persons who have benefitted from GETfund Scholarships contained in a performance audit report of the Auditor-General on the administration of scholarships by GETFund. Other high ranking persons include: Procurement Minister and Deputy Majority Leader in Parliament, Sarah Adwoa Safo and Executive Secretary of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA), Prince Hamidu Armah.

The revelations have been met with revulsion by many Ghanaians on social media.