Legon UTAG welcomes suspension of Public Universities' Bill, wants total withdrawal

Legon UTAG welcomes suspension of Public Universities' Bill, wants total withdrawal

President of the University of Ghana chapter of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG), Samuel Nkumbaan, has said the suspension of the Public Universities’ Bill is welcome news.

He told Citi News that the suspension presents the main sponsor of the controversial Bill, government, the opportunity to withdraw it altogether.

“It came as welcome news. Despite that, our expectation was that it will be withdrawn by the government entirely. We are hoping that the suspension will provide room for the government to engage the relevant stakeholders on the way forward,” the Nkumbaan has been quoted in a Citi News report.

He added: “We will be happy if it doesn’t come at all, but if it has to, then, of course, all stakeholders must input to ensure that it is not a disadvantage to tertiary education as we currently find in the position of this current draft.”

Individuals and groups had been calling on the government to withdraw the Public Universities Bill 2020 because it will stifle academic freedom.

Some critics have even called the bill unconstitutional.

The decision to put the bill on hold a month after President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo said the bill cannot be disputed.

The President told Accra-based Oman FM that the Bill will simplify the management of public universities in the country.

It emerged on Thursday, October 23, 2020, that the Bill will not be among those to be considered before Parliament goes on recess in the coming weeks.

The government has explained that it has withdrawn the bill for broader consultation before it is reintroduced in Parliament.