No salary for University of Ghana lecturers

Staff of the University of Ghana, the nation's premier university, will not be paid soon because of delays in the release of government's subvention to the institution.

In the last three months, DAILY GUIDE can confirm, there has been delayed payment of the salaries of staff of the university largely due to central government's failure to release the subvention.

It has been established from the Finance Department of the university that salaries for January 2014 were received in the third week of February due to a similar reason which saw staff seething in anger.

Just when they were preparing this time round to proceed to the banks and draw their February salaries, they were held on the tracks by Mercy Haizel-Ashia, the Registrar, in a Memo dated February 26, 2014.

A copy of the Memo headlined, "February 2014 Salaries" and sighted by DAILY GUIDE read, "The University Community is informed that the University is unable to pay salaries for February 2014 due to the delay in the release of Government Subvention." Payment of salaries will be made as soon as the subvention is received."

Copies of the Memo were sent to the Vice Chancellor's Office as well as local chapters of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG), President of the Ghana Association of University Administrators (GAUA), Chairman of the Federation of University Senior Staff Association of Ghana (FUSSAG) and Chairman of the Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU) of the Trades Union Congress (TUC).

Sources close to the Finance Department disclosed that the last time subvention was received from central government was about seven months ago, wondering when the next tranche would arrive.

The situation is said to have brought immense pressure on the administration of the university, which has disclosed that nothing could be done about the matter as their Internally Generated Funds (IGF) could not cater for staff salaries any longer.

The university sources said sometimes the authorities had to fall on over¬drafts from banks to finance their operations, including payment of staff salaries.

A section of the staff who spoke to DAILY GUIDE on grounds of anonymity, disclosed that they might be compelled to lay down their tools if the situation persisted.

Meanwhile, DAILY GUIDE has gathered that other public universities are facing similar problems and have petitioned government to immediately address the situation before it gets out of hand.