Her Excellency (H.E.) Mrs Sabah Zita Benson, Ghana’s current High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, has publicly voiced grave concern regarding the absence of repercussions for the former Registrar of the Scholarship Secretariat, Mr Kingsley Agyemang.
The High Commissioner alleges that the former state official is responsible for accumulating a 35 million pound debt between 2021 and 2025, a situation she noted has left several Ghanaian students financially stranded and in difficult circumstances.
H.E. Mrs Benson made these disclosures during an engagement with Ghanaian students who had petitioned her office regarding the challenges they are currently facing.
The High Commissioner expressed her profound disappointment concerning the alleged impunity, stating:
”It is unfortunate that the former Registrar of the Scholarship Secretariat, Kingsley Agyemang, is walking a free man. I am looking into the camera and saying this—I don’t know why Kingsley Agyemang is walking a free man because the mess he has created for us as a mission is huge.”
She further revealed that the Ghana High Commission in the UK currently owes several universities 35 million pounds. This figure, she stressed, is “way above the budget that the Scholarship Secretariat has been awarded for next year.”
H.E. Mrs Benson pointed out the severity of the financial crisis, noting that the 2026 budget for the Scholarship Secretariat, which is Ghc250 million, cannot even cover the outstanding debt in London, let alone obligations to other Ghanaian missions abroad.
The High Commissioner expressed bewilderment as to why the former Registrar was issuing foreign scholarship award letters when he was aware of the lack of budgetary provision for them.
She emphatically called on Ghanaian authorities to take immediate steps to address the issue and ensure that Mr Agyemang is held accountable under the law.
H.E. Mrs Benson further stressed that Mr Agyemang had knowledge that there was no budget for the numerous approvals, yet he was “dishing out award letters like ‘abro ne nkatie’ (peanuts and groundnuts),” a local expression denoting reckless and casual distribution.
She concluded by revealing a specific allegation from some students that they were required to pay £10,000 to receive their award letters.
This alleged pattern of reckless conduct continued even in 2023, when the mission already owed £18 million, as he reportedly proceeded to issue more award letters without regard to the existing debt.
She added that the current administration has managed to pay 3 million pounds out of the debt owed to the various universities.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
