UMaT SRC supports the closure of Universities if negotiations fail 

Mr John Bugari, President, Student Representative Council, University of Mines and Technology, Tarkwa, says he will support the closure of public Universities if stakeholders are unable to resolve the ongoing strike by the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG).

He said the students were worried and troubled about the absence of academic activities due to the industrial action, stressing if parties remained in their entrenched positions, then the Universities should be closed if no solutions were found.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency, Mr Bugari said most of the new students had left campus, complaining of their finances and appealed to the parties to avoid the entrenched positions for peace to prevail. 

He said the focus of the students was to broaden their scope of knowledge and be better trained to contribute to national development, but that could be possible when stakeholders address the six weeks strike by UTAG.

“Whatever the issues is, they need to resolve them. We need our lecturers back to the lecture halls to begin academic work,” he said.

Some of the Students Representatives Councils (SRCs), in an interview with the GNA, have expressed worry about the issue and called for immediate resolution of the situation. 

Mr Emmanuel Boakye Yiadom, the President National Union of Ghana Students, said, “We are expecting a peaceful resolution of the matter for our lecturers to get back to the lecture halls.” 

Mr Yiadom said the students were really troubled because of the delay in addressing the issues, adding that the situation was affecting the finances of the students. 

He disagreed with the assertion that the Universities must be shut down, stressing that, it was not the best option in the circumstances. 

Ms Stephanie Antwi, the Acting SRC President, University of Ghana, Legon, described the situation as “disturbing”, saying a lot of the fresh students had left campus. 

“The students are worried and don’t know what to do. Every Monday, they wished to hear good news, they complain about their finances,” she said. 

She said the student’s leadership had made efforts to engage UTAG, but nothing positive was arrived at, calling for stakeholders to respectfully address the issues to begin academic activities. 

Mr Alhassan Abdul Waris, the Acting  SRC President, C.T. Tedam University of Technology and Applied Sciences, Navrongo, appealed to the Government and UTAG to negotiate amicably since the prolonged issue was escalating situation and affecting the psychology of the students. 

A High Court in Accra (Labour Division) on February 3, 2022, urged the leadership of the NLC and UTAG to settle the matter out of court. 

The court, presided over by Justice Frank Rockson Aboadwe, has given the NLC and UTAG up to February 15, 2022, to report back to the court, after an unsuccessful meeting on February 10, 2022. 

The fifteen branches of the UTAG in a statement copied to the Ghana News Agency decided to continue with their industrial action despite a directive from the NLC to call it off. 

The UTAG on Monday, January 10, 2022, embarked on industrial action over their “worsening” conditions of service. 

The Commission after hearing their case on Thursday, January 13, 2022, ruled that the strike be called off because it was illegal and did not follow due process.