UTAG, POTAG reject Nat’l Research Fund

Lecturers at the country’s tertiary institutions have cranked up agitations against the National Research Fund, which has reportedly been passed by Parliament.

At a forum organized by the National Labour Commission (NLC), the Chief Executive Officer of the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC), George Smith-Graham, indicated that the Fund has been ratified by Parliament since it was captured in the 2015 budget statement and also in the state of the nation’s address.

“Once it goes into a budget statement and it is passed by Parliament, it means technically it has become a law,” Mr Smith-Graham said.

He, however, assured that there will be an engagement with stakeholders to settle all outstanding issues surrounding the implementation of the "law".

But before that engagement, some executives of the Polytechnic Teachers Association of Ghana (POTAG) and University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) have raised red flags not only about the way it was passed but also its existence as a replacement of the book and research allowance.

“They should realize that the two are not the same,” said David Brown, the newly elected General Secretary of POTAG.

“They are two different things. Whatever law [Parliament] has passed, we have not seen the bill,” he told TV3’s Daniel Opoku. “Whatever it is they should make sure that there is a distinction between these two. That must not nullify the current book and research allowance we are taking.”

He said it will be a “bad law” and a “disaster” if government goes ahead with promulgation without recourse to them.

President of UTAG-Legon Dr Harry Agbanu, on his part, said the implementation of the Fund will only strain relationship between lecturers and government.

“We want to have good relationships with our employers as much as possible. We love our jobs. We want to do our jobs. We love our students but anything that will vary our interest without any recourse to our opinions we will resist with every force within us.”