The University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) is demanding a lump-sum payment for their book and research allowance for both last year and the coming academic year.
National President of UTAG, Dr. Samuel Ofori Bekoe in an interview with Citi News said: “If they say they are going to pay in September then we are taking for the past and current academic year. We are no longer going to pre finance the activities for research”.
UTAG earlier threatened a strike over the delay in the payment of the allowance but the National Labour Commission’s (NLC) intervention stalled it.
According to them, their allowances have not been paid for a year and they will not start the next academic without both payments.
Dr. Ofori Bekoe indicated that if they are not paid as they are demanding, they will stop the pre-financing of activities for carrying out research.
He also expressed their support for Polytechnic teachers who are also on strike fighting the same cause.
“We could also have sent our students home and being on strike just like POTAG, but that time our students were not on campus so it wouldn’t be very effective,” he said.
The Deputy Minister of Education in charge of tertiary education recently announced that the lecturers will be paid in September, but according to the UTAG president the first time they were paid in September was in the 2012/2013 academic year.
He blamed the government for delaying when they are to pay the allowances saying, “when it’s time to pay they drag their feet before paying”.
By: Magdalene Larnyoh/citifmonline.com/Ghana