The leadership of the University Students Association of
Ghana (USAG), led by the president, Henery Nkosuo Boakye, has expressed their
disapproval with government’s apparent indifference to settle the book and
research allowance owed to lecturers for 2014/2015 academic year.
It would be recalled that the members of the University
Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) embarked on a strike action at the beginning
of the academic year following the refusal of government to pay their book and
research allowances.
The lecturers threatened not to return to the classroom
until the monies were paid. But they suspended their strike after assurances
from government to pay them by the end of September.
However, in spite of all the assurances and appeals from
the various students bodies in the country for the issue to be addressed, USAG
in a press release has said their appeals seems to have fallen on deaf ears,
and that the development have taken the lectures aback.
They stated emphatically that just as they do not want
lecturers to leave the lecture halls to resume their strike action, they do not
appreciate the lack of logistics to aid the lectures in the work to act before
it is too late.
They said university education is ‘key to building a sound
economy,’ and therefore appealed to government to take all the necessary steps
to bring finality to the matter before it get out of hands again.
‘We plead with government, and the office of the
President, that university education is our surest bet to understanding the
complexities of handling modern economies and hence our key to building a
strong nation financially and otherwise.
Therefore government should do all its possible best to
engage our University lecturers and settle the quagmire of allowances,’ the
statement captured.
