Government owes £5m in PhD stipends and tuition – Sabah Zita Benson

Ghana’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Sabah Zita Benson, has disclosed that the government owes approximately £5 million in outstanding payments covering both tuition fees and stipends for Ghanaian PhD scholarship beneficiaries in the UK.

Speaking in an interview on JoyNews on April 23, 2026, she explained that some beneficiaries who were expected to have completed their studies in 2023 are still demanding stipend payments despite finishing their programme.

According to her, there are cases where award letters created expectations of stipends, even though completion timelines have since changed.

"We have people who completed their course maybe in 2023, but they claim that the award letter promised to give them stipends, and so government owes them stipends.

"But they were supposed to have completed in 2023, but they're still here asking for stipends. In fact, the PhD cohorts, we owe them about £5m which includes tuition and stipends", she remarked.

The High Commissioner further indicated that many of the affected students have already completed their PhDs and moved on to employment, including teaching roles in universities.

“The PhD leadership that I met, the President… he’s completed, he’s defended his thesis, his colleagues have completed, but they are waiting for stipends,” she explained.

She noted that some of them are already working while still expecting payments from government.

UK-based Ghanaian PhD students to protest over unpaid scholarship fees

“Some of them have even started working already. They are already teaching in universities here, but they are waiting for taxpayers’ money to offset their stipends for them,” she said.

She stressed the need for stricter rules to prevent similar situations in future, citing provisions in the revised Scholarships Act.

“That is why I believe the new law, Article Section 31 of the new law, the Scholarships Act, is good, because for situations like that, if you decide to stay here and teach, then you have to refund the money that we’ve spent on you,” she added.

Meanwhile, Ghanaian doctoral students in the UK suspended a planned demonstration in London scheduled for Friday, April 17, 2026, over delays in the payment of tuition fees and living stipends by the Ghana Scholarship Authority (GSA).

The decision followed an announcement by the GSA that it has released funds to offset part of the arrears owed to Ghanaian students studying in the UK.

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