Pay our allowance else we’ll strike – UTAG threatens gov’t

The University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) has threatened to lay down their tools if government doesn’t pay their research allowance by next week.

According to them, several pleads to government to settle the allowance by July 16 have not been met and the Ministry of Finance has also failed to formally respond to their letter.

Speaking at a press conference today at the University of Cape Coast, the National President of the Association, Dr. Eric Opoku Mensah, stated their efforts to get the appropriate authorities to facilitate the payment have yielded no results.

The Association is therefore giving the government an ultimatum of six days from Wednesday, July 25 to the end of this month to release their book and research allowance or they will advise themselves.

He noted that “we have been able to manage the uneasy tension on the various campuses but the situation is getting out of control and we may be forced to take the decision we have been avoiding”.

”UTAG wishes to inform and plead with the public and students that should the next academic year’s academic be disrupted,they are not to blame,” he added.

Dr. Opoku Mensah was worried that in spite of the fact that all the necessary documents to facilitate payment were presented to the appropriate government institutions several months ago, government has not been able to pay.