The leadership of various Students Representative Councils (SRC) are demanding that President Akufo-Addo intervenes in the industrial action by the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG). According to them, his silence has been too loud on the matter.
Although public universities reopened seven weeks ago lectures are yet to begin as the strike has brought academic work to a standstill.
The General Secretary of the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS), Julius Kwame Anthony believes that should the President engage lecturers, they will go back to post.
Speaking on JoyNews’ The Probe, Mr Anthony noted that although government institutions are engaging UTAG, none of them has achieved the desired result.
“There is one individual who has not spoken on this matter and we need him to do that and that person is the President of the Republic.
“So it will make a lot of difference because he is the head of government and he speaks and things move. If he gives instructions all these people will obey so he should come and state his position on the matter,” he stated.
The NUGS General Secretary, however, opposed the idea of students immediately considering protesting.
According to him, SRC Presidents should petition the President, for a meeting to find an amicable solution to the issue.
“Last year, we did that and it was not long after that action was taken. So I think it is only after meeting the President and if nothing happens then we can demonstrate,” he intimated.
Meanwhile, the Executives of UTAG have urged members to honour their decision to return to the classroom on Monday, February 28, 2022.
However, a referendum conducted by the UTAG’s National Executive Council show an overwhelming rejection from public universities of the decision to pick up their tools.
The majority of lecturers across some seven public universities in the country have voted against the decision by UTAG’s National Executive Committee (NEC) to suspend its nationwide strike.
The dissenting lecturers include lectures from the University of Education, Winneba (UEW); the University of Ghana, Legon; the University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR); the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST); the University for Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) and the SD-Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies.
According to the votes collated from these 7 public universities, an overwhelming majority of the lecturers do not want UTAG to suspend its nationwide strike.
The University of Cape Coast and other member institutions are yet to cast their votes on NEC’s decision.
