The Minister for Education, Haruna Iddrisu, has urged members of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) to call off their ongoing strike.
In a press conference, he emphasised that President Mahama is honouring his commitment to provide absolute academic freedom, free from interference with university autonomy, in accordance with constitutional demands.
Iddrisu asserted that UTAG members are not reciprocating the kindness shown by the President through their strike action.
“I do not think that we are reciprocating the gesture kind enough of President Mahama, so may I use this opportunity to call on the striking senior staff members and the members of UTAG to call off the strike action,” he stated.
He acknowledged that UTAG has two legitimate concerns: pension payments and the outstanding payments related to tier two pensions.
He noted that part-payment has already been made, revealing that they inherited a shortfall of one billion cedi, with the Controller having disbursed approximately 396 million cedi so far, leaving an outstanding amount of around 600 million cedi, which is currently being processed.
“Understandably, we have two legitimate issues, one being the outstanding payment of tier two pensions that has been done partly,” he uttered.
He highlighted that the President has met with the Minister for Finance and the Controller as part of ongoing efforts to resolve these payment issues.
Source: Vanessa Elizabeth Nkum
