Prof Ransford Gyampo of the University of Ghana’s Political Science Department
Professor Ransford Gyampo of the Political Science Department of the University of Ghana is calling for a rethink of conditions granted to Article 71 office holders by the Constitution.
According to him, the article imposes discrimination that locks out public servants who receive a pittance each month and subsequently during retirement whiles a few people within the scope of the article get juicy conditions of service.
Gyampo’s views were contained in a Facebook post of August 22, 2021 sighted by GhanaWeb; in which he addressed a range of issues allied to a suspended strike by the University Teachers Association of Ghana, UTAG.
His post read in part: “Let me once again counsel government to begin to rethink the 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 who are given pittance every month, and whose deaths are hastened every year, for poor pension they receive on retirement.
“For, politicians and all other article 71 Office Holders would from now onwards, know no peace, so long as they continue to enjoy fat salaries whiles the rest of the population wallow in poverty.”
He continued: “They cannot continue to tell us to tighten our belts, whiles they eat good food to protrude their tummies and loosen their belts. If there is no money, we must all suffer. If there is money, it must be equitably distributed. This is one key way to consolidate our peace and stability for development,” he stressed.
Gyampo is the local UTAG General Secretary and has hailed the national UTAG leadership for agreeing to suspend their strike and to pursue the path of negotiation with government.
UTAG agreed to suspend their industrial action last week after it agreed to return to the negotiation table with government. The National Labour Commission had to withdraw a suit against UTAG as part of the roadmap for negotiations.
President Akufo-Addo expressed happiness at the suspension of the strike when he met with executives of the National Union of Ghana Students, NUGS.