UK‑Based Ghanaian Students Say No Scholarship Funds Paid Eight Weeks After Government’s Announced Release

Eight weeks after the Ghana Scholarships Authority (GSA) announced that first‑quarter funds had been released, Ghanaian students studying in the United Kingdom say they have still not received a single payment toward tuition fees or stipends.

In a statement issued by the Executives of the UK PhD Cohort, the students accuse both the Government of Ghana and the GSA of “failing to honour their commitments” despite repeated assurances from officials, including Ghana’s High Commissioner to the UK, H.E. Sabah Zita Benson.

According to the group, students suspended a planned protest in London on 17 April 2026 after the GSA publicly claimed that funds had been released. The High Commissioner later confirmed this and assured them that disbursement would begin during the week of 20 April.

“As of 8 June 2026, not a single student has received any payment,” the statement said, adding that the delays have resulted in withdrawals, suspensions, visa revocations, debt collection actions, and widespread hardship among sponsored students.

The cohort also alleges that many PhD students are owed over 40 months of stipends, while the GSA has failed to issue renewal letters for continuing students for more than two academic terms. Some students, they say, now rely on food banks and friends for survival, with others facing court action over rent arrears.

The group further claims that although the Finance Ministry reportedly released first‑quarter funds, only GHS 37 million out of GHS 256 million has actually been made available — representing just 14% of the GSA’s budget. They estimate that the GSA owes the PhD cohort alone GHS 56 million (£3.5 million).

The students are appealing to President John Dramani Mahama, Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, and UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to intervene urgently. They warn that if the situation remains unchanged, they will “have no choice but to return to the streets of London” to protest.

FULL PRESS STATEMENT (AS ATTACHED)

GOVERNMENT FAILED TO DISBURSE SCHOLARSHIP FUNDS AFTER EIGHT WEEKS OF FIRST QUARTER RELEASE – PRESS STATEMENT

Background
On behalf of all Ghanaian students sponsored by the Ghana Scholarship Authority (GSA), the executive body of the PhD cohort, United Kingdom (UK), wishes to convey to the media and the general public that the government and the Scholarship body has failed to release money to address the outstanding tuition fee and stipend challenges confronting students in the UK despite earlier claims that funds has been released.

Meeting with the High Commissioner
On the 17th of April 2026, the PhD cohort decided to embark on a series of protests in London to further highlight the debilitating impact of the prolonged delays in releasing funds to the Ghana High Commission UK, for payments. While students were gathering at Hyde Park in London to commence the demonstration, news came in that the government had released some funds to cater for the outstanding commitments (see GSA statement on April 16, 2026). Subsequently, the student body suspended the intended protest as a goodwill gesture. Rather, the leadership of the demonstration committee and the executives decided to seek an audience with the Ghana High Commissioner, Sabah Zita Benson.

In our interaction, she confirmed that some funds have been released on 16th of April 2026. The High Commissioner further assured us that processing and disbursement of the funds would commence the week starting 20th April 2026. However, as of today 8th June 2026, not even a single student from our cohort or from the undergraduate or masters cohorts have received payments towards their tuition fees or stipends. It is instructive to note that we have, in the past, engaged the High Commissioner, but the issues remained unresolved.

Both PhD and masters cohorts from Loughborough University had petitioned the Prime Minister of Britain Sir Keir Starmer. We have also appealed to His Excellency President John Dramani Mahama through a series of media statements but the issues remained unresolved. It is important to also emphasise that this is not the first-time issues of delayed scholarship payments are being actively raised in the media space. In 2024, the PhD cohort had issued several public statements, including posing a question through Joy FM's Samson Anyenini to the then Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawimua during his media encounter.

Subsequently, an amount of 150 million cedi was released at the time to address part of the tuition fee and stipend concerns. However, we find it strange that our recent appeal to the government to address the issues remained unheeded to. Currently, most of our members have either been withdrawn, suspended or had their visas revoked due to nonpayment of the fees. Those who managed to complete their studies cannot graduate and obtain their academic certificates. Likewise, several universities in the UK have now passed on tuition fees to students, making life more unbearable. Furthermore, debt collection agencies have now been involved in chasing sponsored students on behalf of the universities.

Management inaction and impacts
In terms of the stipend payments, several PhD students are owed more than 40 months of unpaid stipends. While we note the President's recent trip to the UK, we are taken aback that in all the engagements, the issue of the sustained nonpayment of our tuition fee and stipends did not take a centre stage. Moreover, for more than two academic terms, the Director General of the GSA, Alex Kwaku Asafo Agyei has not issued a renewal letter for any of our continuing students in the UK despite an earlier promise made by the High Commissioner in January 2026 that the letters will be issued. Our members have been made destitutes in the UK. Several students sponsored by the GSA are now feeding from the benevolence of friends while significant numbers have had to depend on foodbanks to survive. Additionally, some of our members are now facing court cases for rent arrears owed to their landlords, which stems from the sustained nonpayment of the monthly stipend.

Our pitying state of affairs is further exacerbated by the failure of the GSA director general to engage the students and offer them hope. Since assuming office, the GSA director general has only engaged the students in the UK once. Our members are frequently informed by their universities that they are unable to sustain their studentship due to failure of GSA to engage and assure them of plans in place to address outstanding tuition fee payments. We further observed painfully that the GSA director general has signed several new non-bilateral scholarship award letters to countries such as Canada, Germany, China and the USA (See Scholarships Database), despite the pending challenges in the UK. Although the Ghana High Commissioner assured us that the director general would engage us at least on a quarterly basis, we are yet to see any such commitment from him.

Delayed release of funds
Recently, we have been vaguely informed that the finance minister, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson had released funds for the first quarter to enable the GSA to meet the outstanding commitments in the UK. However, our findings show that only 37 million Ghana cedi out of the 256 million Ghana cedi allocated budget has been released. This amount translates to only £2.3 million or 14% of the GSA budget. Although the UK remained the hotpot of challenges, we find that the amount being sent to the UK is not even up to £300,000. Despite notice of this amount having been sent to the UK, our information indicates that the GSA director general has since not signed the distribution advise for payments to commence.

Moreover, the GSA owes the PhD cohort outstanding tuition and stipend fees to the tune of 56 million Ghana cedi (£3.5 million). We have already gone past the second quarter, yet the first quarter release is yet to be disbursed. These aforementioned events raise serious concerns as to whether GSA and the government are genuinely committed to addressing the challenges confronting sponsored students in the UK.

Our Appeal and future expectations
We once again call on President John Mahama and the finance minister to consider the circumstances of our country men and women who are stranded in the UK and release a substantial amount to address these concerns. Furthermore, we the leadership of the student body in the UK are once again calling on the Prime Minister of Britain not to forget our petition regarding these concerns. There can be no effective UK-Ghana partnership without education. It is on this premise we are calling on the two sides to urgently address the issue to enable our compatriots under the GSA scholarship in the UK to have some peace of mind to complete their studies and return to contribute to the development of Ghana. In the coming days, the sponsored students in the UK would have no choice than to return to the streets in London to protest and further draw public attention to the matter. We hope that our consistent appeal would guide leadership to rise up and address these concerns more robustly. God Bless Our Homeland Ghana.

Signed by:
Executives, UK PhD cohort
To all UK and Ghanaian media outlets.