The University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG)-University of Education, Winneba branch has declared an indefinite strike to register their disappointment in the decision of the Winneba High Court to put an injunction on all projects and contracts of the university.
The court also ordered the Vice Chancellor and the Finance Officer of the University to step aside until the determination of a case pending before it.
Speaking to Valentina Ofori-Afriyie on 505 on Class91.3FM on Friday, 14 July, 2017, UTAG-UEW President Dr Samuel Ofori Bekoe said the lecturers were staying away from the lecture halls until the injunction placed on projects is lifted.
He explained: “Among the reliefs, the [plaintiff] is seeking is that contracts that are being awarded should be declared null and void because it didn’t go through due process, but let me say that those contracts are not university contracts, they are not public contracts.
“They are GUSSS contracts and these are private pension funds of we the lecturers, of which every member is contributing 25 per cent of their basic salaries to because we want to enhance our pensions. And the money that we are having, we have gone for a loan and we are investing in constructing commercial centres and hostels so that our pensions will be better. And somebody, an ordinary person from outside the university who is not a contributor to this pension plan, has gone to court to claim an injunction on the project and you say I should be happy? And I should praise him for doing that?
“What is the interest of that person and the interest of other Ghanaians on GUSSS? [If] it collapses, which Ghanaian is going to contribute to it? So that is the issue. Until they remove the GUSSS from it, we won’t go to the lecture hall.”
The court also on Friday gave the Education Ministry 14 days to reconstitute a governing council for the university.
The judge, His Lordship George Atto Mills-Graves, also awarded a cost of GHS4000 against the University and the Ministry.
The plaintiff in the case, Supi Kofi Kwayera, is seeking the dissolution of the University’s Governing Council because their term expired in 2013.
Source: Ghana/AccraFM.com
