More than The University Executives of the Senior Staff Association of Universities of Ghana (SSA-UoG) and the Federation of Universities Senior Staff Associations (FUSSAG) have announced a suspension of their strike effective immediately, directing all members to resume work effective July 27, 2022.
In a release dated July 26, 2022, the executive disclosed that following a Memorandum of Agreement between the Minister of Education and Labour Relations and the National Executive Council of the Associations, the parties have resolved to chart “a roadmap that serves as a guide to ensure fairness in a speedy resolution of all the impasses between both parties.”
“We will continue to engage faithfully with the government and other relevant stakeholders in our pursuit of justice, fairness, and equity in the salaries and allowances of senior staff,” the statement continued.
On July 13th, the associations embarked on a strike to press home demands including the 20% cost of living allowance (COLA), regularization of members who have worked for a long time but have not been made permanent and credit on interest accrued on members’ Tier 2 contributions.
Despite the fact that the government had agreed with organized labor on a 15% COLA, the SSA-UoG and FUSSAG had stressed that their demands went beyond the COLA.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC), Ing. Benjamin Arthur, had also told the press that the association’s strike did not follow due process, adding that attempts to invite them for a negotiation had been futile.
Students Association of Ghana (USAG) has resisted the 15% increment in public universities’ fees for the 2022-2023 academic year.
In a statement released by USAG on December 20, 2022, it disclosed that the hike in school fees will make access to education difficult.
The association has expressed its worry over students not being able to prepare adequately for the payment of fees because of the short notice regarding the school fees served; thus, it sees the new fee increment as an error.
“Our biggest concern with this release is how short the notice on the payment has come and how difficult it will be for most of our students to continue their education.”
The association also argued that Parliament ought to be the final determinant of any adjustment in fees, not the various managements of public universities.
“The procedure for approval of public university fees is very clear, and this approval does not stop at management or at university councils. Our universities are supposed to send their proposed fees to Parliament through the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission and the Ministry of Finance. Subject to the passing of the recent Fees and Charges Act, 2022, the final approving authority is not the university management but Parliament.”
USAG further stated that it is not satisfied with the release of the new fees for the next academic year at some universities with high percentages.
Parliament recently approved a maximum 15% increase in university fees from the previous academic year.
15.7 million Ghanaians currently possess their Ghana cards, the Executive Secretary of the National Identification Authority (NIA), Professor Kenneth Agyemang Attafuah, has told Accra-based Citi FM.
His explanations come on the back of some sections of Ghanaians who have complained of not receiving their Ghana Cards several months after registering.
Also, following an earlier denial by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia recently asserted that the card has completely complied with the conditions for an E-passport.
But, according to Prof. Attafuah’s research, as of today, about 16,535,623 Ghana Cards have been printed for the 16,969,034 people who have registered for them.
Prof. Attafuah stated that there have been around 15,702,719 cards issued, while there have been about 808,493 printed but unissued cards, and gave several explanations for this.
He disclosed that “there are people who have double-registered.That is potentially a criminal offence. Those ones are being individually investigated. There are those whose cards have gone into adjudication, not because of double registration but because they have sought to change their vital data in the custody of the authorities, such as bio-data. For such people, the system arrests their application and it joins a queue.”
He revealed further that those with system arrests will only be issued to the holders after they have been rectified.
