Members of the Technical University Teachers’ Association of Ghana (TUTAG) at the Kumasi Technical University have accused the government of continuously delaying processes to migrate them onto the Public University Salary Structure.
According to the group, the delay in the migration process is frustrating teaching and non-teaching staff in the technical universities
They have therefore hinted of another industrial action if the government fails to complete the migration process before the end of June 2019.
Andrews Danquah, Chairman of the Kumasi Technical University chapter of TUTAG who spoke to Citi News said, “after the initial ACT in 2016, we thought it actually made us a university but government after implementing the ACT had all other reasons why we shouldn’t be a university. When the current government took over, they even made an amendment to the ACT. But six months after the staff audit, members of our staff here and other Technical Universities have not been migrated onto the public universities salary structure.”
“We see this foot-dragging as quite insensitive and callousness on the part of government. We want to tell the government of Ghana that we are so much dissatisfied. We are giving the government up until the end of June, if the new salary that we rightfully deserve does not hit our account, then we will also express our frustrations in other ways like strike,” he noted.
The conversion of polytechnics into technical universities was one of Former President John Mahama’s manifesto promises ahead of the 2012 general elections.
The purpose of the conversion was to bridge the gap between academia and industry.
Most of the polytechnics in the country have been converted into technical universities except for a few who claim they are being denied the privilege despite meeting the criteria for conversion.
‘Treat us just like university teachers or face our wrath’ – TUTAG
The Technical University Teachers Association of Ghana (TUTAG), has indicated that the failure of the government to migrate them onto the conditions of service enjoyed by their counterparts in traditional public universities is politically motivated.
The Association is of the view that, the current government is not showing enough commitment to their concerns because the former Mahama administration initiated the conversion of polytechnics into technical universities.
“They don’t respect anybody in the technical universities because they didn’t convert polytechnics into technical universities. You have a government adviser to the ministries about universities telling us that the former government didn’t think through the change from polytechnics into technical universities.”