- "The students are suffering. Look at the money they’ve spent on bringing free education. It is a flagship and if it is a flagship, the president should be concerned about this flagship called education because this is not helping,” Jantuah said.
- Professor Ransford Gyampo, the general secretary of the University of Ghana chapter of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) earlier called on President Nana Akufo-Addo to personally intervene to resolve their salary issues.
Kwame Jantuah, a private legal practitioner has urged President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to be concerned about the ongoing industrial action by the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG).
He said the president must intervene quickly because he campaigned on the basis of making education accessible to all, leading to the birth of the Free SHS programme.
“The challenge with this particular situation is the duration it has taken for either the NPP or NDC to do anything about,” Jantuah said on The Forum – Asaase Radio’s weekend news and current affairs analysis show.
“And that duration has caused disaffection within the lecturing community and the government is not prepared to do anything about it. And when I say government; I mean both the NDC in power and the NPP in power because there’s perpetual succession who take over our assets and liabilities.
“…I’ve indicated that this is the point where I think the President [Akufo-Addo] should come in because this thing has taken so long,” the lawyer said.
Education as a flagship policy
“There needs to be an olive branch shown somewhere because it is not working. And I think that olive branch can be shown if the President comes in. This thing has protracted and I’m not saying the President should come in on everything. I’m not saying he should sit and negotiate – call the bodies together and ask the question; why haven’t you been able to resolve this because it’s gone on for a while?
“The students are suffering. Look at the money they’ve spent on bringing free education. It is a flagship and if it is a flagship, the president should be concerned about this flagship called education because this is not helping,” Jantuah stated.
Listen to Jantuah in the attached audio below:
Akufo-Addo must intervene
Professor Ransford Gyampo, the general secretary of the University of Ghana chapter of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) earlier called on President Nana Akufo-Addo to personally intervene to resolve their salary issues.
According to Gyampo, UTAG does not trust any of the government officials to handle the situation and therefore, call on the president to intervene.
Speaking to Beatrice Adu on The Big Bulletin on Monday (14 February), Gyampo indicated that Akufo-Addo in his final term of office, must chase after better legacies that will outlive him and the complete resolution of the teacher’s demands presents a great opportunity.
UTAG agrees to call off strike
Earlier news indicated that leadership of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) had agreed in principle to call off the five-week-long strike after meeting with the Education Committee of Parliament.
The meeting which had the leadership of UTAG, Fair Wages, Minister for Education and Minister for Employment and Labor Relations is said to have lasted for hours.
Speaking to the media, Peter Nortsu-Kotoe, the ranking member of the Education Committee of Parliament said “In principle on our appeal, they have agreed (to call off strike) on the condition that the government is ready to sit down with them immediately for them to resolve outstanding matters. The minister gave us the assurance that they are going to be committed once the committee has directed, there’s no way he as the leader of the government delegation will fail to meet with them,” he stated.
Meanwhile, the substantive motion is still in court, and it is expected to be heard on Tuesday 22 February 2022. UTAG believes that they have a good case.
Nicholas Brown
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