The University Teachers Association of Ghana(UTAG) branch at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology has formally forwarded a letter to the National Labour Commission(NLC) to withdraw some services on Nov. 19 until further notice.
A copy of the letter as cited by Successafrica.info news team indicates that, the government is undermining the efforts of the chancellor of the university, Otumfuor Osei Tutu II in resolving the impasse.
“Should government continue its refusal to restore Council, UTAG-KNUST resolves to withdraw teaching and library services until further notice,” the teacher union informed the NLC in the notice.
The tango between the government and the teacher union will soon not end as UTAG still insists to maintain its old members on the university’s council.
The university was closed down following students protest over what they describe as an inhumane treatment meted to their colleague students by the internal security of the university.
The university which was expected to reopen on 8th November was disrupted by the impasse between the teacher union and government.
The old Council was dissolved by the government and replaced with an interim Council to man the affairs of the university for three months as government embarks on a thorough investigations into what triggered the protest on the academic grounds.
A key part of that roadmap was for the Chancellor of the University, Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, to re-constitute the Governing Council of the school.
UTAG has condemn the government intervention as an unnecessarily political interference and still insists to maintain its old members on the council as government on the other hand battles for new faces from its end on the yet to be reconstituted council.
At a joint press conference on Wednesday, the UTAG and Teachers and Education Workers Union (TEWU) said they will not yield to government’s demand that UTAG should select only new members to represent it on the Council.
The unions described the government’s hard stance on the composition of the new Governing Council as intrusive
In the letter to NLC, UTAG reiterated that position, accusing the government of a lack of commitment to resolving the impasse.
“In the past few days government has demonstrated that it is not committed to the resolution of the impasse but rather to the undermining the effort of Otumfuo under the current circumstances, UTAG is of the firm belief that the government is unwilling to constitute the Governing Council to restore academic normalcy,” UTAG-KNUST accused the government in the letter.
