James Klutse Avedzi, Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), has urged the government to implement measures that ensure lecturers who receive scholarships to study abroad are held accountable for repaying the funds. Speaking at a PAC session in Ho, Mr. Avedzi expressed concern over the growing trend of scholarship beneficiaries either refusing to return to Ghana or failing to repay the government after completing their studies abroad.
Avedzi noted that many of these lecturers, particularly from technical universities under the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), have taken advantage of the system without fulfilling their obligations. He stressed the need for GTEC to create a binding framework that ensures beneficiaries of government scholarships repay funds spent on their study leave abroad.
The PAC Chairman also highlighted the role of guarantors, often colleagues of these lecturers, in ensuring compliance. He urged technical universities to enforce stricter measures to recover the funds from lecturers who default. Additionally, the committee identified instances where lecturers, after resigning from one institution and joining another, received salaries from both universities. Members of the committee called this practice criminal and demanded that those involved return the funds and face legal consequences.
The committee also took issue with a former Vice Chancellor of Accra Technical University, Prof. Samuel Nii Odai, who recently returned two university vehicles only after learning that the institution would be appearing before the PAC. The committee emphasized that all owed monies would be retrieved, and it warned senior management officials against receiving salaries for work not performed, cautioning that they risk prosecution if caught. The PAC’s five-day sitting continues, focusing on institutions from Greater Accra, Eastern, Oti, and Volta regions.
SOURCE: https://dew360.net
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