By Iddi
Yire/Eunice Hilda Ampomah, GNA
Accra, Sept. 26, GNA – Lecturers at the Ghana
Technology University College (GTUC) have embarked on an indefinite strike to
drive home their demand for a new Governing Council and the passage of the GTUC
Bill into law.
The indefinite strike action covers withdrawal
of all academic services such as teaching, thesis supervision, consultations
and academic counselling services.
It also involves attendance to all faculty
meetings and University gatherings as well as issuance of reference letters to
students and alumni of the University.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday in
Accra, Mr Samuel Kingsford Seglah, Chairman, GTUC Lecturers Association, said
the action would remain in force until Government constituted a governing
council for the University and submitted the GTUC Bill to Parliament for
passage, while ending the reign of the Interim Management Team (IMT).
He said the strike action was taking place on
all GTUC Campuses in Accra, Takoradi, Kumasi, Koforidua and Ho.
Mr Seglah said over a year ago (20th July
2017), the GTUC Lecturers Association sent a petition that called for the
Government’s intervention in the running of the University, because they
suspected financial malfeasance and defective governance in the University.
He said for example, the then President of the
University (Professor Osei Darkwa) was making employments and other decisions
without recourse to the statutes of the University which he hid from faculty.
He said in the petition they also called for a
forensic audit based on their suspicion of the financial mismanagement of the
University.
“Just a few days ago, we read in the
media reports, aspects of the audit report in which huge sums of monies were
alleged to have been misappropriated or embezzled,” he said.
“This vindicates the position of the
faculty at the time we petitioned the President of the land,” he added.
Mr Seglah said following their call for the
Government’s intervention, the then President of GTUC, Prof Osei Darkwa was
removed from office by the Government through the Minister of Communications,
Mrs Ursula Owusu Ekuful.
He said after the removal of Prof Darkwa from
office, a three-member Interim Management Team (IMT) was put in place on 2nd
October 2017 to temporarily steer the affairs of GTUC pending the appointment
of a governing council and new President or Vice Chancellor.
He noted that the IMT had been in office for
one year and the University had been without a Governing Council since January
2017.
Mr Seglah said, in addition, the Ghana
Technology University Bill had taken too long to be passed by Parliament;
declaring that these three issues were the focus of their strike action.
He emphasised that the absence of a Governing
Council had adversely affected the running of the University.
He said for instance, certain promotions and
key appointments have been pending for more than a year.
The President said staff salaries had not seen
any upward adjustment since 2014 and some important policies had not been
approved for implementation.
He noted that the University had some
non-performing assets that could be disposed off to settle part of their
indebtedness but without a Council, such decisions could not be taken.
He said the appointment of a new
President/Vice Chancellor for instance, was a function of the University
Council.
Mr Seglah said the appointment and
inauguration of a well constituted Governing Council was therefore, urgent for
the smooth running of the University.
“We are calling on government to as a
matter of urgency, constitute and inaugurate the University Council immediately
else faculty will not return to the lecture hall,” the Chairman said.
“We commend the government for initiating
processing that will eventually lead to GTUC becoming a full public
university,” he added.
He said the absence of the legal framework for
the governance of GTUC was worrying.
“Faculty is concerned that the GTUC Bill,
which when passed, will make GTUC a hill public university with
legitimacy,” he said.
“We call on government and Parliament to
as a matter of importance, expedite action on the passage of the GTUC
Bill.”
He said the IMT so far had not given them any
strategic direction since they took office; adding that all their decisions had
been adhoc in nature.
He said careful analysis of the IMT’S reign
reveals a lot of infractions that needed to be quickly addressed.
Mr Seglah noted that this was also due to the
fact that the IMC lacked locus as the University was currently without a
Governing Council to ratify some of these decisions.
He said it was the view of faculty that they
could not continue to run the University with an interim management.
“We want the IMT dissolved NOW and a
substantive management put in place,” he said.
“We believe that the appointment of a
Governing Council and the passage of the GTUC Bill will help address these
challenges as soon as possible.”
GNA