Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa
The Member of Parliament for the North Tongu Constituency, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has said there is the need for the country to have a law to regulate scholarships.
According to him, the current system has been compromised by some officials who use their influence to secure scholarships for their children.
Speaking on Onua TV on Monday, August 26, 2024, and monitored by GhanaWeb, he said the law is necessary as it will ensure that only brilliant but needy students receive scholarships.
“For the first time in this country’s history, we are going to have a law on scholarships. So, the time has come for us to have a law on scholarships. The law will ban politicians, government officials, and politically-exposed persons from receiving scholarships.
“Scholarships are supposed to be for brilliant but needy students. It has to be reserved for the vulnerable, but some privileged members of society, like ministers and MPs, are taking it for themselves, and they are not even ashamed, they come out to defend it,” he stated.
He noted that the next NDC government will also introduce a merit-based scholarship system that aligns with the national development goals.
“As a country, where do we want to be in the next ten years or the next twenty years? Should we be giving scholarships to people to go and do courses that do not align with our development goals or with our human resource gaps?
“There are some regions that do not have a single gynaecologist. In some regions, you will struggle to find an ophthalmologist or an engineer working with REGSEC or with the district assembly,” he added.
He stressed the need for a unified scholarship scheme in the country.
“The NPP has created several avenues for scholarships because of cronyism. GETFUND has a scholarship, GNPC has a scholarship, the presidency has one, COCOBOD has one, and GOIL has one. We need to bring all the scholarships under one umbrella, and every year we will make the list of beneficiaries public.
“People are granted scholarships, and they receive rent allowances yet they go and do intake courses and you wonder why? The abuse of scholarships will stop under the next NDC government. Under this current government, if you are not connected, you cannot get a scholarship,” he noted.
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa further stated that increasingly, the youth of the country are losing faith in Ghana’s democratic process and progress.
“We are saying that that must stop. There has be real opportunities for all people, and we are going to deal with that head-on,” he stated.
JKB/AE
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