Accra: Former Minister of Health, Dr Bernard Okoe Boye, has denied benefiting from a living allowance from the Ghana Scholarships Secretariat during his five-year PhD programme in the United Kingdom. Speaking on Metro TV's Good Morning Ghana on August 14, 2026, he clarified that he did not receive the allowances attached to the scholarship package.
According to Ghana Web, Dr Okoe Boye explained that his scholarship arrangement covered his tuition fees but that he personally financed his travel and accommodation throughout his studies. He stated that although he was aware that scholarship conditions could provide living expenses of about £15,000 a year and allow beneficiaries to travel with their spouses, he did not take advantage of those provisions.
Dr Okoe Boye emphasized his decision to inform the authorities that he did not require financial support beyond his tuition fees due to his status as a politician. He personally paid for his air tickets during the five years he travelled to the UK for the programme and covered his accommodation, including stays in Airbnb facilities.
He further disclosed that he paid his own tuition fees during the third year of his programme. The university later informed him that, due to the progress he had made with his research, it would take care of the remainder of his programme.
Dr Okoe Boye argued that there was nothing inherently wrong with the state paying tuition fees for a professional pursuing a PhD, particularly where the research addresses an important national challenge. His doctoral research focused on incentives for health workers and ways to improve their distribution between Accra and rural areas.
His comments come amid concerns over alleged abuses at the Ghana Scholarships Secretariat, including claims that public funds were used to finance the travel, accommodation, and allowances of spouses and children of some scholarship beneficiaries. Ghana's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Sabah Zita Benson, has called on the Bureau of National Intelligence to expedite investigations into the alleged abuses and recover monies she says were improperly spent.