How is the Scholarship Secretariat unable to determine who is needy? – Pumpuni Asante quizzes

The Director of Programmes and Policy Engagement at the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), Dr. Kojo Pumpuni Asante says he is often surprised to hear individuals and institutions claim that they cannot determine who is poor.

On April 3, the Registrar of the Scholarship Secretariat, Dr Kingsley Agyemang, advocated for swift legislation to streamline the distribution of scholarships in the country to address numerous misconceptions about the scheme.

He highlighted the current challenge faced by officers in making decisions due to the absence of clear legislation defining who qualifies as a needy individual for a scholarship.

Dr Agyemang’s comments follow a recent investigative piece by the Fourth Estate, which shed light on some instances of double scholarships offered to certain individuals and how politically connected people were granted scholarships.

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The Registrar, in rebuttal, said there was no law or criteria to determine who was poor and needy.

Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile on April 13, Dr Pumpuni Asante described these comments as shocking, as there is enough research and data available on poverty levels.

According to him, for an entity like the Scholarship Secretariat to argue that there are no laws or criteria on who is considered poor is an issue of concern.

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“I get shocked when people suggest that somehow we are not able to determine who is needy or brilliant when we have been doing social protection programmes.

“Even countries are categorised by their poverty levels. You know we used to talk about the dollar a day, this and that. The Statistical Service spends time in categorising who is poor, and who is extremely poor. Government actually do policies, gives monies based on these things.

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“Nobody can tell me in today’s Ghana, they cannot make a distinction as to who is poor and who is needy. If there is a lack of clarity or a reinterpretation, then of course we will get to that in terms of what we need to do to make sure that there is no confusion. This is not new and it is a very important observation,” he added.