{"id":105428,"date":"2025-12-04T19:29:33","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T19:29:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=105428"},"modified":"2025-12-04T19:29:33","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T19:29:33","slug":"npp-paid-57m-scholarship-debt-left-by-the-first-mahama-administration-dr-agyemang","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=105428","title":{"rendered":"NPP paid $57m scholarship debt left by the first Mahama administration \u2013 Dr Agyemang"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Former Registrar of the Scholarship Secretariat and MP for Abuakwa South, Dr Kingsley Agyemang, has dismissed allegations that under his tenure the secretariat left a \u00a332-million scholarship debt.<\/p>\n

He explained that the issue is a perennial, unresolved systemic burden inherited from previous administrations.<\/p>\n

At a press conference on Thursday, December 4, in Accra, Dr Agyemang said the Secretariat\u2019s financial challenges were \u201clegacy liabilities\u201d, not fiscal irresponsibility on his part.<\/p>\n

He argued that when the Akufo-Addo administration assumed office in 2017, the first John Mahama administration had already accumulated arrears of GH\u20b5230 million, approximately $57 million, which the then NPP administration cleared to prevent Ghanaian students abroad from being expelled over unpaid fees.<\/p>\n

He emphasised that the intervention ensured no student studying overseas was forced out of school, safeguarding both their academic progress and Ghana\u2019s reputation.<\/p>\n

His rebuttal follows allegations made by Ghana\u2019s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Sabah Zita Benson, who revealed that an unpaid debt of about \u00a332 million had been left behind at the Secretariat, a development she said has stranded hundreds of Ghanaian students in the UK.<\/p>\n

Read also: Deportation looms for Ghanaian students in UK as scholarship support collapses<\/p>\n

In a recent meeting of some affected students and the Commissioner in London, Mrs Benson reportedly questioned why the former registrar was \u201cstill walking free\u201d despite the severe hardship the situation had caused.<\/p>\n

Mrs Benson allegedly accused the MP of continuing to issue scholarship award letters despite a lack of funds to support them, creating a ballooning debt of \u00a335 million, of which only \u00a33 million has recently been settled. <\/p>\n

She also alleged that some students had paid bribes of up to \u00a310,000 in exchange for scholarship award letters, amounts that could have covered their tuition. <\/p>\n

She described the situation as \u201cheartbreaking and unacceptable\u201d, noting that UK institutions are demanding immediate payment, leaving the mission under immense pressure.<\/p>\n

Mrs Benson also suggested that the former registrar\u2019s conduct appeared calculated, arguing that his actions saddled the new government with an overwhelming debt load while putting Ghana\u2019s international reputation at risk.<\/p>\n

In response to the growing storm, Dr Agyemang urged stakeholders to adopt a fair and balanced perspective rooted in institutional memory rather than speculation. <\/p>\n

He maintained that the debt crisis is a structural issue that predates his administration and should not be personalised.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"NPPFormer Registrar of the Scholarship Secretariat and MP for Abuakwa South, Dr Kingsley Agyemang, has dismissed allegations that he left behind a \u00a332-million debt at the Secretariat.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1883,10,9,13393],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national","category-politics","category-popular","category-schorlaship"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=105428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105428\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=105428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=105428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=105428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}