It is not unusual to have a measure of politics define the acuteness or shallowness of twists and turns in the course of negotiations between two entities, especially in Ghana where the shenanigans of political parties have dominated current events to their very intimate detail.
For example, as the status quo depicts, UTAG appears to agitate in tandem with Professor Gyampo, who actually seems to destroy the credibility of Doctors and Professors of the teaching profession with his atrocious comments and unguarded utterances.
UTAG, seems to be steered by a lack of reason and a penchant for a subversive attitude toward honest governance. First of all, by law and other implications therein, the single spine salary structure makes it unlawful to tamper with the salaries of one group of professionals without the inclusion of others. So, the request to appreciate basic salaries, by default, is off the table for this particular case!
John Dramani Mahama abolished the 114% interim market premium attached to the basic salary of university teachers and made it a fixed amount. Over the years, and due to increases in the basic salary, the value had depreciated since the interim market premium was no longer indexed to the basic.
The government of President Nana Akufo-Addo, seeing the need to ameliorate the conditions of service of the university teachers, has enhanced many of their allowances including progressively increasing the research allowance from 500 Ghana Cedis set by John Mahama to $1,600.00 US Dollars, currently, amounting to some eleven thousand Ghana Cedis (GHS11,000).
Not only was that the new norm since 2019, but the interim market premium of the university teachers would remain intact whether one qualified for the actual market premium or not. This was to ensure that no one became worse-off with the implementation of the actual market premium.
Wo Mp3 weyi wo p3 d3n?
It even gets better under His Excellency Nana Akufo-Addo’s directive, which concludes that market premiums agreed on shall take retroactive effect from January 2022, no matter when, during the course of the year, they are arrived at!
So why the agitations?
Then UTAG claims that they always have an idea on what government’s intentions are before they arrive at any agreement with the latter, but this time round, they have no clue, hence their deceitful reason for the strike and ongoing court action, which they are likely to lose anyway, given the previous agreements that make their current behaviour questionable! This is a half-baked lie that has no merit, whatsoever, for the simple reason being that in the past, they began negotiations with government before going on strike. That way, they are naturally informed of issues and are privy to what’s on the table.
However, in the current deadlock, UTAG initiated the strike before making their demands, which the authorities declined because per the norms it is inappropriate, and sets a bad precedent, leaving government in a compromising situation.
Besides, it is similar to the NDC manner of skewed logic, constructing a building from the roof first. After all, there are rules to every form of engagement!
The complicity of UTAG with the opposition NDC, and their adherence to the dictates of buffoons make them carry the tag of “disgraceful nation wreckers”! Is it not a blight on the integrity of so-called professionals to scheme in no ordinary ways as to make life difficult for students all over the country some being their own children, nephews, nieces, cousins, and other relatives?
In that is certainly an element of selfishness, nonchalance to the plight of the poor, and absolute disregard to the ethics of the teaching profession! What is more bamboozling is the current agitation, knowing very well that John Dramani Mahama of the NDC froze this 114% interim market premium enjoyed by the university teachers while President Nana Akufo-Addo is leaving no stone unturned in his bid to reinstate lost advantages and add more. Is this a matter of collusion with your torturer against your liberator?
On this note, however, let me state that since the “sex for grades” exposé that indicted Prof Gyampo with disgusting immorality for which the governing board of the University of Ghana did not find its machismo to dismiss him over, we need to gird our loins to be at the receiving end of the most infantile yet these perserve acts of sabotage by this unprofessional professional. After all, who is responsible for the muscle he seems to be wrestling the government with?
I say sack that ingrate and let him find a job somewhere in Mumbai where sex for grades is as normal as the raping of female students that most often go unnoticed. The imbecile claims to have a Ph.D. in some form of (in)discipline for which he commits his manhood in the exercise of duty.
