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Former President Jerry John Rawlings has commended the Scholarship Secretariat for its decentralisation of the scholarship process.

He said the move will make it easier for deserving students to obtain scholarships should they supervise the process adequately to ensure that there is no discrimination.

He said this in a meeting with some representatives of the Secretariat in Accra on Wednesday.

Touching on effective monitoring of the system, former President Rawlings said, “I am impressed that responsibility has been devolved to the Districts. There has been so much prejudice against the scholarship secretariat because of the perception that there is discrimination in the choices made and it only benefits privileged persons. You have to monitor the devolved process otherwise the very thing you are trying to avoid will be repeated".

He added that, “During my tenure as President, I devoted 40 per cent of my time to checking corruptible tendencies. That is why I was able to contain corruption. We have difficulties giving fairness a chance in this country with influence often overriding ability and merit. This development makes me feel good and I urge you to give the new process more publicity so deserving students can take advantage of the process”.

For her part, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Parliamentary candidate for Tema Central, Madam Ebi Bright stated that there is a cultural tendency towards patronage in the country adding that people who have access to power tend to always compromise situations.

She noted that even with the devolution of the process it is still going to be difficult to balance the good intentions of the Secretariat, she therefore urged the Registrar and his team to do their utmost to support local talent and ideas in a fair environment.

Aide to the former President, Dr. Donald Agumenu was of the view that the Scholarship Secretariat plays an integral role in building human capital, hence called for a fair distribution of scholarships, adequate and regular evaluation of the process.

The Registrar of the Secretariat, Kingsley Agyemang on his part said his outfit, working in collaboration with regional and district authorities had devolved the selection process to ensure that deserving students across the country were offered opportunities to obtain scholarships to further their education.

'Shortlisted applicants will then appear before the District Scholarship Secretariat after which a recommendation will be made to the Central Scholarship Review Committee secretariat for the award of scholarships', he stated.

Other members of the Scholarship Secretariat at the meeting were Director of Accounts, Mr Richard Aidoo, Deputy Directorof Administration, Mr Joseph Essah and two Assistant Protocol Officers, Grace Afari-Mensah and Jennifer Evelyn Bedu.

Members of President Rawlings’ team included Dr. Anthony Dzegede, Kobina Andoh Amoakwa and Ogochukwu Nweke.