UTAG suspends withdrawal of teaching services
The University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) has suspended its withdrawal of teaching services for non-payment of the 2014/2015 book and research allowance.
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A statement signed by the National Secretary of UTAG, Dr Awinkene Atintono, said, "Following an emergency National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of UTAG held on August 13, 2015, in Accra, it was resolved that with effect from Thursday, August 13, 2015, UTAG suspends it's withdrawal of teaching services in all public universities."
The statement explained that the suspension of the withdrawal of the teaching services followed a show of commitment by government towards the payment of the 2014/2015 book and research allowance.
It, however, gave government up to September 30, 2015, to complete the payment processes, otherwise it might be compelled to withdraw teaching services again.
Why the decision
Commenting on the decision, the National President of UTAG, Dr Samuel Ofori Bekoe, explained in an interview that when the NEC met, it was realised that government had reached the level that UTAG had given.
"As humble as we are, we decided to call off the strike," he said, adding that UTAG expected government to keep its promise.
He said previous events and developments pointed to the fact that UTAG could not wholly trust government, "and that is why we have given them up to September 30, 2015 to ensure that the money hits our accounts.”
Dr Bekoe explained that UTAG gave government September 30 because it had taken into consideration the fact that the various institutions had to submit their lists before payment could be made.
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Submission of lists
He gave an assurance that all institutions involved would be pressured to expedite action to ensure that within two weeks they would have all submitted their audited lists, so that the ministry could use four weeks to effect the payment.
"The onus also lies on us now to also mount pressure on these officers who are to prepare the lists so that by the end of August, the lists would have been ready and sent to the ministry," he told the Daily Graphic.
Dr Bekoe assured the public that whatever UTAG was doing was to ensure that the materials that lecturers needed to enable them to produce quality graduates were provided by the government.
"We, for our part, will not do anything deliberately to hurt anybody," he noted, adding that UTAG appreciated the support of the public and appealed that "they should continue to have patience with us."
Call for transparency
Dr Bekoe advised the government to always be transparent, open and truthful in dealing with UTAG.
"They should not try to do things behind us. This idea of going to legislate away our condition of service will never work with us," he said and vowed to do everything possible to ensure that such a move never worked.
Appeal to students
Dr Bekoe appealed to the students to have patience with UTAG, explaining that anytime UTAG embarked on such strikes, "It is not because we hate them, it is because we love them and want to do better things for them.”
"They are the ones we are going to teach and if I don't have the requisite materials to ensure that I deliver the content comparable to what other universities all over the world would do, then I would rather be short-changing them," he explained.
He, therefore, explained that whatever step UTAG took, it was for the benefit of the students to ensure that they were internationally competitive.