Lecturer at the University of Ghana Political Science Department, Yaw Gyampo
Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana Political Science Department, Professor Yaw Gyampo, has commended President Akufo-Addo, Vice-President Dr. Bawumia and the Education Minister Yaw Osei Adutwum key roles they played in helping to address the concerns of the University Teachers Association of Ghana.
He has, however, slammed the National Labour Commission (NLC), describing it as a “moribund and incompetent body” which has “no clue in dealing with our challenges as an independent arbiter”.
UTAG has been on an indefinite strike since August 2. The action, according to the National Executive Committee (NEC) of UTAG, was borne out of the government’s refusal to heed calls by the Association to improve the worsening conditions of service of its members. There have since been attempts by the NLC to get UTAG to go back to the classroom, including an injunction that sought to restrain UTAG from continuing the strike, an order UTAG defied and subsequently challenged.
While the court action is ongoing, UTAG after a Wednesday, August 19 meeting with the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, the Minister of Education, and the NLC, agreed among other things to suspend their strike.
In a post summarizing what has transpired so far by way of the UTAG strike and the engagements that have been ongoing, Prof. Gyampo said the President, his vice, and the Education Minister deserve commendation. He said the Education Minister, in particular, has shown true leadership in the matter.
“Special commendations must go to His Excellency, the President of Ghana, who I am told, was very upset about how we were being treated; the Vice President for his intervening efforts behind the scenes; the Education Minister, who from now onwards must be referred to as the MASTER LEADER for his civility and calming down language; the Deputy Minister for Employment; and the entire student body for their unflinching support for us”, parts of his post read.
He also called out the NLC and condemned it for what he says is a failure on its part to perform its statutory function creditably.
“The only state institution that malfunctioned, is the NLC. Its incompetence would remain a monumental embarrassment to governments if efforts aren’t made to change its leadership. Not all positions of state must be occupied by party apparatchiks, and if for some reason, a party loyalist must be appointed, care must be taken to ensure that such a person can actually lead in times of crisis. The current NLC has outlived its usefulness as an independent arbiter, in dealing with labor crisis, and the earlier something is done about the Commission, the better for all of us”, he wrote.
Meanwhile, he has called on the government to begin to rethink what he says is “discrimination imposed by article 71 of the 1992 Constitution that grants juicy conditions of service to a few people, with relatively low educational background, and ignores all other Public Servants”.